Cedarville Volleyball Bounces Back Against Tiffin, Wins in 4 Sets

By Julia Swain

As the ball hit the floor, Cedarville players leaped and celebrated as their five-match losing streak ended in triumph. Coming into Tuesday night’s match against Tiffin, Cedarville looked to bounce back and win their first conference game. They did just that, winning in four sets and improving their record to 3-5. 

One crucial aspect of the match was how the Lady Yellow Jackets responded to their losing streak. The team’s positive attitude was seemingly one of the contributing factors to a win that came at a necessary time and boosted confidence going into future matches. 

“We just made sure to keep our heads up,” said Cassi Shields, freshman outside hitter. “Coach told us to take it five points at a time, so we played five-point games in our head and we just took it point by point.” 

In the third set, which helped the Lady Yellow Jackets gain momentum in the remaining sets of the match, the crowd cheered in anticipation, bouncing on their heels and raising their arms in triumph with every Cedarville point. Each player sported a focused look, preparing to do anything they could to win the set following a close, yet disappointing second set that ended in Tiffin’s favor 26-24. 

In addition, the Lady Yellow Jackets demonstrated that getting frustrated over a lost point or set is not beneficial in the end

“Keeping our heads up helps us move on and if we have a bad point and we lose it or we dig ourselves a hole, getting mad at ourselves isn’t going to fix that,” Shields said. “So we just try and stay positive and just take it step by step.”

The Lady Yellow Jackets sideline was vocal and positive throughout the match, which provided seemingly great energy for the team to build off of. 

Additionally, the team is still looking to improve on many aspects of their game in the upcoming matches, including building momentum and not allowing tough sets to allow them to lose their positive mindsets. 

“I think we’re just going [to try] to keep the momentum going forward,” Shields said. 

The team has an opportunity to capitalize on this momentum going into their next game against Walsh on Friday, September 9.

Julia Swain is a freshman journalism student.