This past Saturday, Sept. 10, Rowan volleyball hosted the Profs Tri-Match tournament to face off against Widener University and the Catholic University of America. After walking in undefeated, Rowan fans would not be disappointed, as the team pushed their record to 7-0 over the course of the night.
Going into the tournament, Rowan had a perfect record with five wins, and when it was all said, rolled past Widener, 3-0, and Catholic, 3-1. While the Profs were in between matches, Widener and Catholic played each other. Catholic won 3-2 to mark their second win of the year, while Widener went home with zero this past weekend.
With their current hot streak, Rowan has gone from the dark horse of 2021 to winning the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) last season, and are now the clear-cut favorites to repeat their role as conference champions– and Rowan fans know it.
“The girls absolutely get excited about hosting,” Head Coach Deana Jespersen said. “So this is our opener tournament. They loved that and just the vibe. All of our parents bring food and the families all bring food, it helps to be at home.”
The Profs embraced the cheers from the crowd, which gave them the momentum they needed to win the two matches.
The star player of the tournament was Rowan’s own Natalie Ogden, a graduate student who came back to complete her final year of eligibility. She led the team with 34 kills in the tournament.
“We have the attitude, we keep saying that we can dominate,” Ogden said. “We want to stay hungry, we want to ball out. I want to keep that attitude at every point of the game.”
Ogden and the rest of the team don’t care who their opponent is, they go into every match with the same type of killer attitude. They just want to win and take it game by game.
In order to do so, there has to be production from both the veterans on this team and the rookies. Jena Kaul, who some may call a “prodigy,” is a freshman who hopes to follow in Ogden’s footsteps. She fit into the lineup perfectly this weekend by being an anchor for the team.
“I think I fit in pretty well,” Kaul said. “I have Natalie [Ogden] to be my kind of mentor and showing me how to play in college, and, you know, showing me the ropes pretty much.”
Ogden will show Kaul the ins and outs of being the next star in this loaded Profs lineup as the two will be a huge factor in momentum and team spirit this week as the Profs take on Rutgers University-Camden in their first NJAC matchup of the season.
As they travel to Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday, Sept. 13, to play at 7 p.m., Rowan looks to keep their record undefeated and maintain a big zero in the loss column.
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