I had a lot of hope for women’s volleyball this year, and I optimistically picked them to finish 2nd in the MVC. They were bringing back most of the starters from a team that finished tied for 6th in the league last year, while most of the teams above them lost a lot of great players. On top of that, they watched as the men’s side won the National Championship last spring, which should have given them a lot of confidence and pride in Loyola volleyball headed into the season.

But something’s not right. After tonight’s sweep at the hands of Illinois State, women’s volleyball is 6-11 overall and just 2-6 in conference. They’re winless in four matches at home, and languishing in the bottom three in the standings. In their first home match against Missouri State, they allowed the opposition to score eight of the last nine points when they were two points away from victory in a fifth set. In the games I’ve watched, the things that should have been their strength this year—communication from playing together, consistency from experience, and confidence—have been their undoing.

It may not be too late for the team to turn it around. They had a great non-con win against Virginia, and their two league wins have been at Southern Illinois (not a pushover) and Drake. They have yet to play winless Bradley, whom they should beat twice. But the clock is ticking on the season, which is now almost halfway through. This team needs to figure out how to get a more balanced offense, cut down on errors, and acquire a little bit of swaggering confidence—and they need to do it quickly, before they dig themselves in a hole where they can’t make the conference tournament.

Good question. What's going on? Unfortunately, I've attended zero Loyola Women's Volleyball matches this year so I won't be able to give an eyeball testimony. 1-6 home record so far! I think Loyola has at least hung around .500 at home the last couple of years. New freshman setter? Brittany Brown has gone from the exclusive setter in 2012 when Loyola went 17-12 (albeit still in the Horizon), to shared duties last year with Vicki Wrobel who is no longer with the team (13-18), to only playing right side hitter with a freshman exclusively setting (7-15 so far). Again, I haven't seen them play so I'm really just throwing random numbers out there.