SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Nine road matches to start the season. Three matchups against teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.
Early-season dividends did not show up in the win-loss column for the Our Lady of the Lake volleyball team.
Instead, the Saints settled for something arguably more valuable: experience.
"We wanted to get challenged right away because unless you're getting challenged, you don't know what you need to get better at," explained head coach Jeremiah Tiffin. "So we started out a little slow. We started out 2-0 and then we lost 6 in a row. Then from there, we started getting things turned around and found a lineup that worked for us."
Through nine games, the battle-tested Saints held a 3-6 overall record. Since that stretch, they've won seven of their last 12, a run that included a five-game win streak against conference opponents. Now, Our Lady of the Lake sits at 6-1 in the Red River Athletic Conference and is tied atop the conference standings - a familiar situation for the three-time defending conference champions.
"It's been rough, but we're getting there," said sophomore middle blocker Bailei Hubbard. "We're starting to click with each other more and work harder in practice, so we're going to be fine."
"That's what we want to do: get better as the season progresses and play our best volleyball in November and December," Tiffin said. "I think that's what we're going to accomplish with this team."
The formula has been pretty simple for the Saints' offense in their wins: pass the ball to their dominant hitters. Four players have tallied 100 or more kills so far this season, led by Hubbard (232) and junior right side hitter Natalie Fazio (218). Sophomore setter Anissa Tamez has set the pace for the offense, accounting for 671 assists and 76 kills of her own. All of those numbers have risen since entering conference play.
"It was really intense playing against high-ranked teams, top teams in the nation," Tamez said. "It really prepares us to play in conference and really take over and dominate. Definitely in the beginning of the year we weren't prepared mentally, and now that we've actually faced some of these teams and we're doing well, our confidence has really gone up. I'm excited to see how it goes playing other teams."
The Saints were a young team in 2017, and that hasn't changed much this year, with only four upperclassmen - two seniors and two juniors - on the 14-player roster. That youthful exuberance and fun-loving personality is turning into one of the teams' biggest strengths, as all 10 returning players and even the newcomers are collectively shouldering the responsibility of maintaining their standard of excellence.
"We all kind of listen to each other, so it's not seniors this and captains that," said Hubbard. "We all feed off of each other, so everybody has a role to play."
"We're really goofy," Tamez said. "We have a really good time playing with each other. We always remember that we're playing for the love of the game rather than just being intense. There's really good chemistry on this team this year. In practice, we all do our job and make sure that we're all going 100 percent and holding each other accountable."
"We've had our two seniors step up this year," Tiffin said. "Mariza Cardenas has done a great job being a vocal leader, and keeping us organized. All of our returning players know what the expectation is, so they're able to seamlessly integrate all of the new kids we have. They're all on the same page and they're all on board."
There's also plenty of diversity on the roster: only four players are originally from the San Antonio area, while eight are from other parts of Texas and two, both freshmen, hail from outside the Lone Star State. In particular, freshman middle blocker Tijana Kruta, an international recruit from Montenegro, has contributed important minutes for the Saints, accounting for 127 kills and 10 blocks in 2018.
"It's a whole new experience," Kruta explained. "It's a new culture, a new mentality. I'm still getting used to it, but I like it so far. It's a winning atmosphere. I'm excited to see us prove that we're a good team, a winning team and we can overcome every single obstacle."
"This is a really close team," Tiffin said. "We have some of the girls come to the same church that I do. I've been able to baptize some of the players last year, which is a highlight of my life. We've got players from all different walks of life, and for them to be able to come in, sit in our office, and tell stories, play games and other simple things like that. It's the cohesiveness this team has that's so phenomenal, and when you're with people day in and day out, no matter what walk of life you're in, you want to enjoy your time. Winning is even more fun, but if we lose, it's still a fun day at work because of the people you're surrounded with, so this is just a great team."
The Saints were once again tested this past week at the Grand View Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, with matches against Grand View University and Bellvue University, the second and 20th ranked teams in the nation respectively. Despite falling in both of those matches, Our Lady of the Lake played their opponents tough, and nearly forced a fifth set against Bellvue. Just another important learning experience for this young Saints team to grow from as they head into the second round of conference play.
"We want to play tough competition, take that experience and bring that back down here to continue to get better," Tiffin said. "We're used to having teams give us their best shot. It's not anything that we're not used to, but we just always prepare like every team is the exact same level and we just give it our best shot."
Our Lady of the Lake returns home to host Wiley College at Mabee Gymnasium for Seniors' Night this Friday at 6 p.m.