Cedarville dominates Thomas More in 3-0 set match

By Lauren Vargas

Thursday, October 9, brought cooler weather to Cedarville University’s campus—just in time for the Lady Jackets to turn up the heat in their first head-to-head match against the Thomas More Saints. Now holding a season record of 12-2, Cedarville’s team continues to climb the GMAC rankings, holding the top spot in the South conference. Thursday’s match served to boost the Lady Jackets’ win streak to nine with another victory, as they walked away with an impressive 3-0 set score.

The fans’ contagious energy surged throughout the court. At a score of 25-11 for the first set, it was clear that Cedarville aimed to dominate this game. 

Shortly after, the Lady Jackets stole yet another set away from Thomas More, ending with a 25-17 second set win. 

While the Cedarville women’s team was doing well as a whole, outside hitter number 17, Allie Pilat, with a total point score of thirteen points and a kill record of ten, was especially impressive. 

Pilat, a sophomore student from Novi, MI, has had quite the career thus far with Cedarville’s team. She expressed her love for the sport and her motivation to perform well despite playing against difficult competition.

“I’ve been learning what a gift the sport of volleyball is,” Pilat said. “A lot of times when we get in the heat of the moment, it becomes this big, stressful thing that we start worrying about. But in the end, it’s not that deep: it’s a gift.”

Pilat’s love for the game shone brightly as the court was reset for the third set. Both teams risked it all: striking, sliding and attacking with high intensity for the final act of the match.

Thomas More attempted to make up for their set losses, making the second half of the match more interesting. As points went back and forth between teams, it became clear that the Saints wanted the final say and would not give up.

However, to no avail. The Jackets pulled through with a score of 25-19. With a swift intensity, Cedarville blew the competition away.

Coach Greg Smith watched from the sidelines as his team executed every play just like they had practiced. What’s even more phenomenal is how little time the Jackets had to prepare to come out on top against Thomas More, fresh off their win against Findlay this past Saturday. With such short preparation comes an urgency to buckle down.

“There’s a lot of positives that came out of just two short practices.” Coach Smith said. “We did a great job at focusing on the things that we need to get better at, and we’re just being very diligent with the blocking side of playing better defense and serving the ball tougher.”

Lauren Vargas is a sophomore biology student with a minor in Spanish and is a sports writer for Cedars. She’s an avid weightlifter and loves watching movies in her free time.