Two weekends ago the women’s volleyball team (7-4 overall, 0-0 BE) went into the Georgetown Classic Volleyball Tournament without two of its team leaders. In the absence of Preseason First Team All-Big East senior middle blocker Sara Albert, and junior outside hitter Rachel Nelson, sophomore middle blocker Annie Connor picked up the slack. She was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, in which the Hoyas’ took the title with 3-1 victories over Maryland-Eastern Shore and George Mason.
“We needed someone to put balls away and she stepped up,” senior setter Margaret Vernon said.
Connor led Georgetown in blocks with a match-high seven as well as nine kills and four digs against Maryland Eastern Shore. She also contributed ten kills against George Mason.
“Annie did a great job,” Head Coach Li Liu said. “She stepped up and had a solid performance. Hopefully she’ll continue and get more consistent.”
Connor wasn’t able to repeat her Georgetown Classic performance this past weekend at the Maryland Invitational Volleyball Tournament. The Hoyas’ were still without Albert-the 2001 Big East Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Big East Honorable Mention, because she rolled her ankle in practice last week.
After beating Northern Arizona 3-2, the Hoyas’ lost to both Maryland and Butler by a combined score of 6-0. Albert is expected to be back by conference play.
“We sometimes have a problem with leadership when [Sara’s] not on the court,” Connor said. “But I was happy to step up two weeks ago.”
The rest of the team will have to follow Connor’s lead and step up until Albert returns. Junior outside hitter Ashley Lancaster also performed solidly at the Georgetown Classic where she and junior opposite side hitter Jenny Weed were named All-Tournament Players.
“This is a young team that’s inconsistent now but they’re getting there and they don’t give up,” Liu said. “The freshmen have been doing a good job.”
“Hopefully I can play as well as I did,” Connor said. “With harder competition, we’ll have to step up and play equal and above our opponents.”
In preparation for the start of Conference play, Georgetown also visited Towson Tuesday night and dropped all three games. They will travel to Philadelphia this weekend for the University of Pennsylvania Tournament. The conference season begins Oct. 9.
“We expect [Sara] to be full strength by the Big East,” Liu said. “She’s doing everything she can to get better. Our goal is to be top four in the Big East.”
A top four finish would lock up a Big East tournament birth. In order to do that they’ll need Albert at full strength and players like Annie Connor to do their part in the meantime.
