In their final homestand of the year, Quinnipiac volleyball opened the weekend with a bang, sweeping the Saint Peter’s Peacocks and advancing to 13-2 on the year.
Quinnipiac needs to win out and see a loss from Fairfield in their last three games to take control of the MAAC. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, it seems unlikely now that Fairfield swept third-seed Niagara in their most recent contest. To close out the regular season, Quinnipiac aims to keep the vibes high while celebrating another successful year.
“It’s just about having a fun time, and going out with a bang,” said junior outside hitter Leilani-kai Giusta. “We have our last home game to celebrate all our seniors, so I’m excited.”
Giusta has good reason to stay excited after her performance against St. Peter’s. She was making an impact on literally every part of the court, notching 12 kills, eight digs and adding two service aces. While she also had two service errors, she had an efficient offensive showing, which made up for her errors, hitting .348 on 23 total attacks.
“I thought she’s she’s been playing well. What I’m most proud of her is her serving,” said head coach Kyle Robinson. “Yeah, she missed a couple tonight, but she also scored a bunch of points from her serve. So that’s usually not her strength, but she did a really good job.”
Grad-student opposite hitter Elena Giacomini and fellow Italian outside hitter Ginevra Giovagnoni tacked on 10 kills on 26 total attacks each, showcasing just how deep this year’s squad is. Robinson has talked about how valuable the depth at the pin positions has been this year, especially with Giovagnoni coming back from injury.
The Bobcats handled the first two sets with relative ease, and St. Peter’s didn’t even see a lead until the third set. This one was much harder-fought, and down the stretch, Quinnipiac was up only 16-15.
“So because we know we have a better team at St Peter’s, we already know that, but they have nothing to lose,” said middle blocker Milena Silva. “So, we have to remind ourselves that we are better than them, and then we have to put in an effort to win.”
Robinson echoed this sentiment. His team has had trouble with losing steam in the middle of games in the past, but he realizes that sometimes the team needs to hear it.
“I thought we started that third set with our effort and focus, pretty low, pretty poor. I don’t care about the errors, but attitude, effort, focus, these are things you can control,” said Robinson. That’s what we talked about in our time out, and then, miraculously, right, they all start to focus.”
The Bobcats will continue to hone that focus as their season comes to a close in their senior game against Rider on Nov. 8, and two last road games before MAAC Tournament play.
