"Since then, including a match four hours after the Babson loss, the Profs have lost one set. They are 5-0 to storm back from their first two losses. And, it’s been all on the road. How’s that for some season-long adversity?" (Rowan Athletics)
If you asked veteran star Jena Kaul about what she’d like to see a younger group improve on the most this season, she’d tell you about adversity.
“I would like us to learn how to deal with adversity, just a little bit better,” Kaul said. “I think that teaching the underclassmen how to deal with adversity and dealing with hard times and hard matches is where things get tough.”
The senior – one of two on this year’s team – has seen it all. She was seated next to fellow senior Vanessa Hutchinson as a high school senior when Head Coach Deana Jespersen won her first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) title. They went on to win one the next year as players.
Three days after talking about adversity, the Profs were in Baltimore, dealing with the third-ranked team in the country, Johns Hopkins. They lost in straight sets to the Blue Jays, stayed in a hotel, then lost again to Babson, 3-1.
Since then, including a match four hours after the Babson loss, the Profs have lost one set. They are 5-0 to storm back from their first two losses. And, it’s been all on the road. How’s that for some season-long adversity?
Of course, Kaul was more-so speaking to in-game adversity. How to deal with that loudspeaker system that alters matches at William Paterson, how to deal with dropping sets, and everything else that may be happening inside the brain of a volleyball player.
But it’s easy to get down on yourself about losing six sets in the first 20 hours of a volleyball season. It’s easy to let that dictate the start of the season. This team hasn’t done that.
“I think that we’ve handled adversity really well,” Kaul said on Monday, after winning four matches in a row. “I mean, of course, there’s always room for improvement. But, I think this weekend we really showed that we can come back from just having lost two games. Even coming down from losing a set, and coming back right away.”
And now, after winning a fifth straight match – and fourth straight-set win in a row – the Profs finally get a chance to play in Esbjornson Gymnasium. On Saturday, it’ll be 15 days from the Profs’ first match of the season to their home-opener, the longest away stretch to open a season since 2013.
Rowan has done the hard part in surviving those road matches. Now, the excitement climbs on getting in front of a home crowd.
“I’m so excited…We’ve been on the road, go and go, ever since we got to school. So, I’m very excited to have the home opener,” Kaul said. “Hopefully we can pack this gym, being our home opener and really just show everyone at Rowan what we got.”
Kaul’s fellow senior, defensive specialist Vanessa Hutchinson, can’t wait to finally play in Glassboro.
“Being at home is just such a different feeling,” Vanessa Hutchinson, Kaul’s fellow senior, added. “Having fans there, having your family to support you, having all the people you know around you, and just not having to sit on a bus for a couple hours is really amazing.”
The Profs will have a chance to put their team on display at 11 a.m. on Saturday, facing Catholic. They’ll be back in action at 3 p.m. against Lebanon Valley College before another 17-day away stretch from September 13 to 30.
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