During Sunday’s tilt, Boston College volleyball (7–9, 0–4 Atlantic Coast) fell just short in a 3–2 loss to No. 17 SMU (12–3, 4–0) which saw a score of 15–10 in the fifth set.
The game opened with a tribute titled “Who I Play For” in honor of the team’s loved ones who are currently battling or have battled cancer. In addition, the BC team members and staff showed their support by wearing pink ribbons and shoes.
“Anytime we get involved with the community, it’s going to be awesome,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said. “This is bigger than sport, and anytime we get a chance to engage with the community about what that is and what that looks like, I think it’s great that we’re doing it.”
The high energy and causes likely brought each team into the first set ready to play. Set one was filled with long-lasting, exciting rallies that prompted the crowd to ooh and awe.
BC showed off their defensive strengths right away, showcasing blocking. After back-and-forth scoring in the first set, SMU took the set with a score of 25–17.
“I think after we were able to clean that [serving battle] up a little bit, it was obviously a much tighter match.”
The Eagles came back strong in the second set by immediately leading 3–0 and continued to lead until SMU recovered to tie the score at 10–10. Once the Eagles led 22–18, SMU needed a timeout to strategize their comeback, but BC persisted and won the set 25–22.
The Eagles continued to shine defensively despite SMU winning the third set 25–18. BC’s Julia Haggerty led defensively with nine blocks in the match.
“I think the strengths of the blocking, we’re one of the top blocking in the conference, maybe one of the top of the country,” Kennedy said. I think the weakness is the serve-pass part of it.”
BC wasn’t going down easy in the fourth set, but this girt also caused SMU to pick up their communication and overall game. About halfway through the set when the scores consistently crept alongside each other, the crowd began to get louder, more intense, and more engaged.
The Eagles stayed alive with a 25–16 win, trying the matchup at 2–2.
In the final set, the Eagles started with a small lead of 2–1, but the scores kept bouncing back and forth in a high-stakes game. The players came back from the previous sets with harder hits, louder communication, bigger smiles, clapping, and words of encouragement.
BC called a timeout once SMU took a 4–2 lead. The score eventually became tied at 4–4, then went back in the Mustangs’ favor 5–8. The Eagles refused to go away, though and came back, making it a close 7–8 game, then 9–12.
The game eventually concluded when SMU reached the 15-point threshold, defeating the Eagles 15–10 and handing them their sixth-straight loss.
“We’re back to work at it on Tuesday, and we’ve got two more tough matches going out to California this weekend,” Kennedy said. “They work hard, they understand what we got to do, and right back to it on Tuesday.”
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