A suspenseful float serve by senior captain and outside hitter, Kat Pickard that brushed the top of the net and slowly fell to the hardwood was enough to secure a victory for Roger Williams University’s women’s volleyball team against the Westfield State University Owls on Oct. 2.

Pickard’s ace on match point, along with senior right side hitter Allie Welch’s season-high 17 kills were enough for the Hawks to avoid heading into a fifth set against their opponent for a second consecutive match.

“I was definitely excited going into Saturday,” Welch said, referring to the absence of a season last year due to the pandemic.

“Any home game right now is extra special because of how long it’s been since we’ve had a normal season,” she said.

As of Oct. 5, the Hawks have won four of their last five matches after starting the season on a six game skid with a strong out of conference schedule.

“Even though we had a slow start I never saw the confidence from our team go away,” said Head Coach Danielle Davis.

“I think the biggest difference during the Westfield game was our team’s trust and confidence in each other,” said Welch.

Prior to their match against Westfield State University, the Hawks held a team meeting to discuss what it meant to play for the program.

Throughout the conversation, players shared what it meant to play for each other which included the ideas of playing with grit, aggressiveness and pride in defending their home court.

“We knew we were a good team volleyball wise, but when teams started to push back at us, we weren’t responding well,” said Davis when asked about the meeting.

A critical but also frustrating point during the matchup occurred when the Hawks dropped the third set to the Owls by a margin of 15 points, after winning the first two sets by 12 and 13 points respectively.

“We just kind of sat back on our heels and didn’t expect them to play hard anymore…that was that example we had kind of been talking about,” said Davis.

The Hawks quickly responded, grabbing the fourth and final set by a narrow three point margin in a sequence filled with back and forth action. With the set tied at 22 apiece, the Hawks rattled off three straight points to secure their victory.

“I think we really held onto that conversation, and it showed on the court,” said Welch.

The Hawks look to continue their winning ways on Oct. 9, when they host a double header against out of conference opponents UMASS-Boston and Springfield College. Start times are 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.