The team won both games on Sept. 9, shutting out Fort Lewis 3-0, and beating Dallas Baptist 3-1.

Head coach Natalie Rawson said, “It feels great. We won the first game of our first tournament, but then lost three games. Having these two wins really helps build our culture, as well as increase our confidence.”

She said the team is running a high-risk system this year, and seeing how aggressive they played makes her think they can only get better as the season continues.

“We were aggressive throughout the match. We’re running a high risk system, and it’s easy to get timid when doing so,” Rawson said.

Addison Semer, mass communication junior, and the team’s middle blocker, said getting the two wins was exciting, and she’s ready to keep moving uphill from here.

Semer said, “Energy and communication were our highlights. We kept our energy up throughout both games, and we didn’t get down on ourselves when we got in a rut.”

She said her personal goals for the season are to win the championship, be known as a top blocker, and to have a positive hitting percentage. She said if everyone keeps playing with this kind of intensity, all of those goals, especially winning, will be possible to meet. Kris Aduddell, a grad school student in sports administration, said the reason behind the two wins was better preparation.

“We were just more prepared today,” Aduddell said. “We were connecting with passes, and we were aggressive. If we keep this up, winning will definitely be more possible.”

While they won the two games, they still had some problems. One of which, according to Aduddell, was serving.

“I have got to improve on my serving. I didn’t do horrible, but I need to start hitting them better,” she said. “We played aggressive, which is good, but we need to reduce errors.”

Coach Rawson said the team needs to connect more.

“Our timing is a little off, as you could probably tell at times, so that is something we need to work on. Overall, though, we didn’t do too bad,” Rawson said.

After finishing last season 6-26, the women’s volleyball team is already off to a better start this year.

“They’ve taken on a new identity. They are playing with more confidence and aggressiveness, and they were building together as a team,” Rawson said. “This kind of attitude and leadership will give the freshmen players someone to look up to.”

Rawson said these games are just a sign of things to come, and that they aren’t even close to their best.

“We need to know that we aren’t at our best right now. If we keep up the hard work, and we fix our failures early, then we will be the best we’ve ever been come November,” she said.

The following day, the team won its game against Southeastern Oklahoma State, but losing to St. Edwards. The next home game will be on Sept. 16 against UT Permian Basin at 6 p.m.