Sept. 21, 2024 – After a pair of strong wins the NCC women’s volleyball team has won their third straight match. NCC took down Edgewood College, 3-1 on Saturday afternoon to close out the North Central Invitational. This comes after their prior win against Saint Mary’s College, 3-0 on Friday evening.
NCC shows strong resolve
After winning the first set and then dropping the second set, NCC found themselves in a big pressure situation. However, they battled back and won the final two sets securing the victory for NCC. A couple of errors at the end of the game from the Eagles gave NCC a 3-1 victory over Edgewood.
First year Head Coach Ray Gooden was proud of how his team performed. Ultimately, he noticed that there was an improvement from his team from last weekend.
“I think our team performed more consistently this past weekend than the previous weeks of competition. It’s fun to watch the entire group grow and support each other,” said Gooden.
Some of the key players from the game included Lauren Benson, ’27, Riley Clark, ’25, Amber Vande Hei, ’25, Abbi Barickman, ’25, Bailey Houlihan ’26, Maddi Barickman, ’25, Abby Buban, ’27. Barickman had 43 assists with Houlihan getting 16 digs. Vande Hei and Benson each contributed three blocks in the game.
Importance of strong team chemistry
With a sport like volleyball, team chemistry is very important. For instance, Coach Gooden has talked about how important it is for every player to understand their value in growing as a team.
“Growing together is most important for our group. All 19 players have value and hopefully they can feel it in our practice gym and in the times we are together,” said Gooden.
Chemistry in sports is vital to team success. Teams that have close bonds and strong communication have the ability to overcome obstacles at a higher clip. Teams that rely just on their talent to bail them out of difficult situations are not as effective. A 2023 article from Psychology Today goes into depth about why team chemistry is so important to team success.
“Chemistry is also important in team sports, where members form bonds that can improve team success as the result of enhanced communication, increased trust, improved morale, strong group identity, effective conflict resolution, and adaptability to changing conditions.”
Staying focused
Even though his team is riding a three-game winning streak, Coach Gooden knows that it is extremely important for his team to be able to stay focused. Next, they are entering conference play and they know that they can’t look ahead.
“Next week starts conference play so making sure our focus is in its proper place is really important,” said Gooden.
NCC will look to keep their three-game winning streak alive as they begin College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin play on Wednesday evening. They will be on the road at Carthage College for a match that will start at 7 p.m. inside Tarble Arena.
