Junior libero and defensive specialist Sophia Bond walks back to serve with extra swagger in her step. She hits the ball towards the ground three times.
Then, holding the ball in front of her, Bond faces the opposite side of the court.
Bond hits a mid-zone drop serve, a style that has earned her 15 aces this season, the most of any player on the team.
During the point, senior right-side hitter Ufuoma Omene doesn’t think; she just hits. And when they win the point, she celebrates out loud, encouraging her team.
“I was just thinking of fun,” Omene said. “That’s a theme on our team. Whenever we play well, we have fun. I knew my teammates were behind me.”
Lehigh women’s volleyball has a record of 9-1 this season after a 3-0 win against Lafayette on Sept. 20.
Omene said head coach Shawn McLaughlin has players take a personality test to identify their strengths and weaknesses. She said the four personalities are dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientiousness.
Omene has a dominant personality.
“When the game is on the line, I am the one to command the court and take over,” Omene said.
She said Bond is dominant too.
“You use your eyes, you watch their angle of approach, you sit, you wait and you explode to the ball,” Bond said. “I think that what goes through my head is the more digs I get, the more excitement that builds.”
The team feeds off of each other’s personalities. Omene said when she needs to be steadied, she goes to senior Alysia Fingall and sophomore Mary Massias for morale.
“Knowing how each person complements each other allows us to work cohesively as a group,” Omene said.
This support stretches beyond the court. McLaughlin said when the team was down in the fourth set against West Virginia, he called a time out.
During the time out, the crowd was roaring, the pressure was on and the score was tied at 23. Instead of pulling out a whiteboard and marker, McLaughlin said he pointed at every player on the sideline and court and told them how capable they were.
McLaughlin said the players followed, complimenting and telling each other how much they believed in their teammates.
Bond said during this time out, McLaughlin said this was the high-pressure moment where they could sink or swim.
“We were like, ‘Let’s go! Like we’re gonna swim! Like we’re gonna go kill them! Like we’re gonna execute!’” Bond said.
The Mountain Hawks ended up winning the fourth set 25-23, and the fifth set 15-13.
Omene said the win didn’t represent an anomaly, but rather the standard for Lehigh volleyball.
“It’s not like we played extraordinary volleyball,” Omene said. “We played Lehigh volleyball, and this year it’s shown that Lehigh volleyball can beat any team if we really want to.”
Bond said beyond mindset, one of the team’s biggest strengths over the past two years is their controlled aggression.
“Usually when people are being aggressive, that means they’re seeing the right things,” McLaughlin said.
He said Bond fights to get better each day, and Omene has taken the changes he suggested and applied them to her game well.
McLaughlin said these changes haven’t only helped Omene improve her game but also grow into her personality.
Bond said the team’s goal is to be first in the conference, host the tournament at home and win a Patriot League Championship.
Comment Policy
Comments posted to The Brown and White website are reviewed by a moderator before being approved. Incendiary speech or harassing language, including comments targeted at individuals, may be deemed unacceptable and not published. Spam and other soliciting will also be declined.
The Brown and White also reserves the right to refuse the publication of entirely anonymous comments.