BRADENTON, Fla - The Banyans women's volleyball team hosted their Sun-Conference opener against the Ave Maria University Gyrenes, claiming a 3-1 home victory.
The Banyans went down early, losing the first set of the match 26-24. After opening the second set in a 4-1 hole, an eight point run led by middle blocker Arianna Garcia helped the Banyans build enough momentum to exit the set with a 25-19 win. The two teams stayed within a point of each other throughout most of set three, but ultimately it was the strong offensive duo of middle blocker Cassidy Casey and setter Rafaela Domingos that prevailed, propelling the Banyans to a 25-21 win. Up 2-1 over the Gyrenes, New College took the fourth set in a strong 25-13 final performance.
The Banyans are new additions to the Sun Conference, with this win serving as the first in-conference victory in program history. After the team's strong showing, assistant coach Shainah Joseph had several positive takeaways.
"We have had really good preseason competition and this is a good stepping stone for us," said Joseph. "We have a lot of work to do, but I think this is a good judgment of where we are at."
When asked about the slow start that allowed the Gyrenes to take a close first set, Joseph credited her team's adaptability and depth. "I think we are a really good team at adapting. We have such a deep bench and we have players that can come in at any time from the left side, the right side, in the middle. It helps us run a different style of game and gives teams different looks if we are struggling."
New College made full use of that depth against the Gyrenes, as points were scored by 13 different Banyan players. Leading the team in kills was Cassidy Casey, accounting for 12 of the team's 99 points. Behind Casey were Katrin Hardardottir and Jayleen Santiago with nine kills each. Rafaela Domingos was involved in most of those points, totaling 32 assists on the stat sheet. Arianna Garcia also had a strong outing, as she was used as a bit of a serving specialist, helping her team escape a few tough spots while recording three aces in the contest.
"We try to utilize all of our strengths and obviously she has an amazing serve, so being able to have many subs, that's one sub we definitely want to use and get her off behind the service line."
Following the opener, the Banyans have a formidable conference road ahead of them, with a matchup against #11 St. Thomas University on the horizon. Until then, the New College Banyans will head to Lakeland, Florida on September 11th for a matchup against Southeastern University.
