Rowan volleyball (11-8) snapped their five-match win streak during their tri-match on Oct. 12, losing to Misericordia (17-4) 0-3 and bouncing back to defeat SUNY-Canton (4-14) 3-0.

The Profs went into Saturday with five straight wins, having not lost since their New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup against Stockton on Sept. 24.

Despite the momentum the team had built off the previous week’s win, Rowan was unable to hold off Misericordia and avoid the sweep in their first match of the day, losing 0-3 for the fifth time this season (25-20, 25-23, 25-23).

The Profs held an 8-3 lead to start off the day, but the Cougars went on an 11-4 run to retake the lead. Misericordia scored the last seven points to seal a win in the first set and go up 1-0.

The second and third sets had similar playouts, with the score tied late and Misericordia capitalizing on the Profs’ errors to complete the sweep.

Head Coach, Deana Jespersen says her team gave up a ton of careless points, giving the Cougars opportunities to get ahead when things got down to the wire.

“We gotta serve better and not make errors. Like, they [Misericordia] have to earn their points,” Jespersen said. “Don’t give them points. Like, make them earn their points. And I think that time, we gave them way too many opportunities.”

Sloppy play and careless errors are reasons Jespersen says the Profs did not perform well in the match, saying their mindset was not where it needed to be from the beginning.

“I think we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win and I think they know it,” Jespersen said. “I don’t think that our mindset was the way that we needed to be. A lot of times when we’re not playing well, they are more consumed with what’s going on around them, instead of just kind of locking in differently on their job.”

Despite the tough loss to start out the day, the Profs were able to flip the script in their second match against SUNY-Canton, sweeping the Kangaroos 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-14).

Jespersen says despite being down, her team will always find a way to fight back.

“We are resilient and we will keep fighting,” Jespersen said. “We won’t go away, which is always a good thing.

The Profs hit over .300 for the fourth time this season in the win (42-10-99), with Jena Kaul leading with 11 kills followed by Maya Iovacchini with 10.

Despite the tough loss earlier in the day, the Profs were able to finish better than they started, keeping in line with the team’s mantra to be gritty.

“I love the word grit because that’s the word that our team is referencing a lot this year,” Vanessa Hutchinson said after the team match on Sept. 26. “I think grit is really the word that we’re trying to embody.”

The Profs will next travel to Montclair State for their fourth NJAC match of the season on Oct. 17.

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