JEREMY WECHSLER Alex De Toth '99, who holds the single season blocks record, racked up 4.5 blocks against Rutgers last weekend.

Volleyball Team Gets Aced By Jason Chan Contributing Writer The Wesleyan volleyball team took a heavy hit during this weekend’s battle at the Trinity College Invitational Tournament, losing all four matches it played. Head Coach Gale Lackey was disappointed as inconsistency and lack of poise exemplified the girls’ play. "When we play badly, we get down and have to pull ourselves together," said Alexis Keeler ’02. "We need to have fun. When we play too seriously, we end up defeating ourselves." A volleyball match is a best three out of five game series; Wesleyan managed to win only two of the 14 games they played in their four match season debut. The teams who attended the weekend affair included Rutgers, NYU, Bates, and host Trinity. The Cardinals fared the worst against NYU, losing 7-15, 5-15, 8-15.

Coach Lackey keyed in on the lack of consistency from the outside hitters and on the inconsistency of serving as reasons for the losses. Also, the outside hitting position, which is usually strong, lost some of its touch. The team struggled throughout their four matches, amassing 40 service errors and 35 aces as compared to its opponent’s 28 and 23, respectively.

Coach Lackey thought both these parts of the game needed a lot work and improvement.

For Wesleyan, this season kicked off earlier than usual, which fortunately will allow for more time to put this defeat behind them. Ideally, the losses will be a learning experience, serving as a springboard to better play in the future.

"We were disappointed, but we saw our potential to be great. The loss should not hurt us. We can use it as a learning experience to work towards a winning season," said captain Ashley Chase ’99. "Since it was the first formal competition, we can just treat it as a stepping stone. If we recognize mistakes now, it won’t plague us for the rest of the season."

"We saw how well we can play," Keeler said "When we trusted each other, we were winning too."

The weekend’s highlights included the impressive play of senior co-captain Leslie Pao and frosh phenom Keeler.

Pao was named to the All Tournament team for her play, recording 27 kills, two service aces, and 26 digs. Keeler also impressed the coaches with solid play as she saw time in all four matches. She recorded 27 kills and eight blocks (two unassisted). Chase once again led the team with 36 kills and four service aces for the tournament.

The team believes that their potential can bring them far this season, but only if their consistency and confidence improves.

"The core of the team, mostly sophomores, juniors, and seniors, are really talented but not yet consistent," says Jennifer Graeff ’02. "They always play great points with 100% effort but not for a whole match. Once this comes together, it may be hard to beat us."

Next weekend, the team is in action at the Western Connecticut University Tournament. Coach Lackey is still looking to capture her 200th career win at Wesleyan.