In 2024, the Eagles won their first five matchups. (Emily Ahern / Heights Editor)
In Boston College volleyball’s matchup against Central Arkansas on Sunday, the most obvious trend was not a star player or a dominant team. More than anything, the thing that characterized the game was errors.
Were it not for some dynamic hitters—namely Sequoia Layne, Audrey Ross, and Isabelle Poehlein—pulling out kill after kill, this game might have been the one to wash away the Eagles’ undefeated start to the season.
Luckily for the Eagles (4–0), though, that clutch play allowed them to beat the Bears (1–3) 3–0 on Sunday night, marking BC’s fifth-straight shutout win to begin the season.
The Eagles opened the first strong with multiple kills from Layne pushing them comfortably ahead of Central Arkansas. Early aces from Brooklyn Yelland and Aubrey Moore, combined with forced hitting errors by BC, helped put the Eagles up 14–6.
The second half of the set continued in much the same way as the first. Despite some well-placed kills from Central Arkansas, they ultimately could not defend against Eagles hitters Sequoia, Ross, and Poehlein.
The Eagles finished off the set 25–13 with a kill from Bella Elrich, putting them up 1–0 going into the second.
The Bears were not just going to roll over and accept defeat, however. The second set saw much more back and forth between the teams, with Central Arkansas putting up more kills and benefiting from five service errors by the Eagles. BC tallied eight total errors in the set.
After the Eagles went up 10–6, three straight BC errors, followed immediately by a kill from the Bear’s McKinzee Haas, tied the score 10–10.
The Bears did not take the Eagles’ moments of weakness for granted. Two more errors from the Eagles, then a kill from Caylan Koons, gave the Bears an 11–13 lead. This pattern continued throughout the second half of the set, but was partially offset by kills from captain Ross and Poehlein.
The game went into extra points after being tied 25–25. Service errors plagued both teams during these extra points, but BC was ultimately able to eke out a 29–27 win thanks to an ace by Samantha Cousins.
The third set followed the same path as the second from the very first play, which ended in an attack error by BC. Before either team could get to 10 points, the Eagles had given up five points through errors.
Were it not for three kills by Ross in that span, things would have looked a lot worse for BC.
The Eagles went up by five after a series of back-and-forth kills, bringing the score to 23–18. But three consecutive kills by Cousins brought the Bears right back into it.
Following an error from Ross, the score read 23–23. Ross quickly redeemed herself, however, as kills from her and Sam Hoppes ended the game 25–23.