By Shane Doyle 

For volleyball head coach Kristopher Czaplinski, it was a matter of when, not if, his young squad would hit a mid-season wall. At this time last year, the high school volleyball season was over, but now Quinnipiac’s six freshmen are just hitting the middle of their first college season.

The wall appeared for the Bobcats as they were in the middle of a five-game home stand. They won the first two matches against Saint Peter’s and Rider but then they lost the last three. The Bobcats struggled with the weekend matches as they lost a combined six sets to none to Niagara and Canisius.

This past weekend they dropped two matches on the road against Siena and Marist. Even though the weekend was not the best showing for the Bobcats, Czaplinski is confident his group will recover.

“It’s all about getting back to practice and doing the right things again,” he said. “That’s something that we have been very good at this year. We’ve been getting into practice, focusing on the positive things and moving forward.”

So far the Bobcats have doubled their amount of wins from last season in Czaplinski’s second season at the helm and even though they have struggled this past weekend, Czaplinski is excited by their progress.

“Even the games that we were winning we still weren’t playing really well and I think that’s amazing to say that the Saint Peter’s and Rider weekend where we took both of those games, we fought hard, but were still not playing up to our potential,” he said. “As long as I can get them up to their potential I don’t care if we win or lose.”

The Bobcats have the chance to show that they are climbing the wall as they will play their last non-conference game of the season against former NEC foe Bryant.

While Czaplinski is concerned by the opponent, his main concentration is on his own team.

“If we limit the unforced errors, we are going to be alright,” he said.

Quinnipiac faces Bryant Wednesday at Burt Kahn Court at 7 p.m. Tune in to the game by clicking here.