Due to the 2020 season cancellation because of COVID-19, the Brockport Golden Eagles are still the defending SUNYAC champions. However, every team gunning for them hasn’t derailed the SUNY Brockport volleyball team from getting off to an amazing start to the 2021 season.
The Golden Eagles are off to an 8-2 start to the season. Before losing to SUNY Geneseo on Thursday, the team was on a seven game win streak. This dominating start to the season isn’t a surprise to many. During the preseason, the SUNYAC released its poll of the top women’s volleyball teams heading into the 2021 season. Brockport ranked first on the list with New Paltz following at second.
Senior middle blocker Meaghan Mastro, attributes the teams early success to their excitement over the two year layoff.
“I think the biggest reason for our hot start is because we haven’t competed in two years due to the pandemic, so we’re excited and fired up that we can play again. We want to reclaim the SUNYAC Volleyball title” Mastro said.
The Golden Eagles have been dominant over this stretch earning clean 3-0 sweeps in five of their first 10 games. A large part of this dominance is Brockport’s strong offense. The Golden Eagles are leading their opponents in kills 456-328 on the year and out assisting their opponents 416-300.
With that being said, Mastro knows that there is still room for improvement if they want to be champions again.
“Despite our strong start, we have some things we want to improve on including, our communication on the court, maintaining high energy throughout the match, serve and pass and blocking. There are always skills to improve on,” Mastro said.
Mastro is following up her impressive 2019 All-SUNYAC season with an equally impressive senior year. Last season, Mastro had 290 kills for the year which was a team high. This season, Mastro is already up to 88 kills which is the second highest on the team. In addition, Mastro has 57 digs on the year which is the fifth most on the team.
However, Mastro tries not to get caught up in her own individual success even though she knows that her play is vital to her teams success.
“I do my best to go out and give my best in every game. I try not to look at the statistical side of things because that’s when I could develop a negative mindset. But there definitely is some pressure to score offensively,” Mastro said.
Lastly, Mastro wants fans to know that the team isn’t content with just a strong regular season.
“Our expectations for this season are definitely to become conference champs again. We also want to go farther in the NCAA tournament, at least to the Elite 8,” Mastro said.
It certainly seems like the Golden Eagles are well on their way to accomplishing this goal. The team now shifts their focus to the Messiah Tournament in Grantham, Pennsylvania next weekend. Their first game of the tournament is Friday Sept., 24 at 5 p.m., against University of Mary Washington along with additional games on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., against Messiah College and Juniata College.
