As Chris Arbini has emphasized often throughout the early portion of his first year at the helm of St. Louis Community College’s volleyball team, rebuilding a program is more marathon than sprint.
The Archers received their latest lesson in that progression on Wednesday, suffering a three-set loss to always-competitive Jefferson College in the Archers’ first game against a Region XVI opponent.
After suffering through a 25-7 defeat in the first set, the Archers battled tough through much of the second, before succumbing 25-14. After Arbini issued corrections in his third and final timeout used on the evening, the Archers played the final set even closer, narrowing their deficit to 11-10 before Jefferson pulled away with a 25-16 win to claim the three-set victory.
Despite the loss, Arbini remained encouraged by the in-match progress.
Seeing that level of competition by the third set, that was a good thing to see us bounce back,” Arbini said. “That first set, there was no excuse for it. By the second set, we made some corrections, and started to play the game the way we should. It’s frustrating that it took that long, but the sheer fact that we were able to give them solid competition by the third set was good to see.”
STLCC will return to action on Friday, when it will travel to Webster Groves to take on the Webster University junior varsity at Grant Gymnasium. STLCC will then return to the Meramec campus on Saturday, when it will square off against both Wentworth Military Academy and Southwestern Illinois College. Games on Saturday will begin at 11 am.