Rowan volleyball (9-7) improved their winning streak to four matches on Saturday, Oct. 5, sweeping their home tri-match at Esbjornson Gymnasium by beating both DeSales (5-11) and SUNY-Maritime (4-14) by a score of 3-1.

The tri-match also served as Pink Night for the Profs in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

At the door, goods were sold and donations were collected that went towards the Hope Venture Fund, founded by head coach Deana Jespersen in 2021 after her own battle with breast cancer. The fund is sponsored by the HEADstrong Foundation and aims to help women and their families after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.

“It’s super important that the girls understand why you’re wearing pink or why you’re wearing a color. I think there’s a greater impact when you understand the purpose behind it, and you put a face to the awareness and I have an amazing team that gets that,” Jespersen said. “I think it’s really important for them to understand that sports is not just about wins and losses, it’s about the larger community that you’re building through sport.”

In their first match of the day against DeSales (25-9, 20-25, 25-23, 25-7), Rowan trailed 6-4 in the first set but went on a 16-0 run to take a commanding lead over the Bulldogs 20-6. Back-to-back kills from Ava Best secured the 25-9 set victory.

The Profs’ hopes of a 2-0 lead were squashed in the second set, with a late push from the Bulldogs tying the match up 1-1.

A battle for the lead went down in the third that was marked by 10 ties. With the score locked at 22-22, the Profs were able to score three of the last four points to take the 2-1 lead on the back of four kills apiece from Hutton Cordrey, Best, and Jena Kaul.

Nine hitting errors and merely two kills cost DeSales the victory in the fourth. Despite their advances in previous sets, the Profs were able to hold them off to capture the win.

“We had heard that DeSales was a momentum team, so when they started getting momentum, we had to shut it down fast,” said Brooke Adams, who finished with 45 of the team’s 48 total assists. “Unfortunately in the second set, we didn’t really do that. They really kind of came at us and we were back on our heels so the third set we definitely came back. It was tight at the end, but we pushed through and then we taught ourselves that we know how to finish in the fourth set.”

It was all Rowan to start the second match against SUNY-Maritime (25-4, 22-25, 25-14, 25-15), with the Profs blowing out the Privateers in the first set by 21 points.

The Profs’ offense went quiet in the second set as SUNY-Maritime was able to capitalize and tie things up 1-1. Rowan was able to bounce back and win the third to take a 2-1 lead, but they struggled the rest of the match which allowed the Privateers to keep things close in the fourth.

Even with SUNY-Maritime jumping out to a 5-0 lead early in the fourth set, they were unable to force a fifth and shut out Rowan, losing 3-1.

The gritty win for the Profs relied heavily on players who typically get less time on the court, allowing them a chance to shine against the Privateers. Alexa Kelleher finished with a career-high 12 kills, followed by Abigail Chadwick with nine.

“It was really important for some of the girls that haven’t gotten on the court as often to be in a position where they had to experience that pressure,” Jespersen said. “It’s important for all of us to understand that we all can get it done. And that pressure weighs on all of us. So, I think it was really important for them to play through that and I was excited to see that they did that.”

In their next match on Tuesday, Oct. 8, Rowan will face off with William Paterson in their third New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) match of the year, hoping to seek revenge on the team that knocked them out of the NJAC playoff running in the quarterfinals last season.

“We’re really excited. It’s a big game. I think the big games like this are the games that we look forward to the most because it’s the highest energy,” Best said. “Energy is just huge when we’re playing. We’re going to be preparing, so we’re going to have something for them no matter what they do to us.”

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