Even the best teams have to deal with upswings and downswings during a season. Losing streaks come and go, and early-season consistency is rarely present in most college sports. The Hamline women’s volleyball team has been dealing with their own consistency issues.

“We’ve been working on upping our expectations during practice,” said head coach Becky Egan. “We’re trying not to be okay with little mistakes. If we are working on a certain skill, it is to perfection so when it gets to game time that pressure doesn’t get to us and we can perform under pressure.”

Capping a full day of sports on Saturday, Sept. 24, the Pipers (6-5, 1-2 MIAC) were swept 0-3 in straight sets against the Concordia Cobbers. Losing all three games by a 20-25 mark, the Pipers were dealing with consistency issues throughout the game.

“We talked as a team about unforced errors all this week,” said Egan. “We talked about positive points and negative points and making sure that our positive points outweigh our negative. That was obviously not happening for us.”

Statistics paint a clear picture of the differences between the volleyball team’s wins and losses: they are 6-0 when they lead their opponents in kills and just 2-5 when they commit more unforced errors than their opponents.

“There’s been a couple matches where for a run of points we’ve been inconsistent,” said senior defensive specialist Amelia Jensen. “I think in those times when we’re inconsistent is when we’ve been losing those matches.”

The MIAC has been shaken up a little bit this year. Of last year’s top three finishers in the MIAC, only Gustavus is currently inside the top three. Top three finisher for the last two years St. Benedict is currently fifth, 2015 second-place Bethel is currently tenth, and 2015 sixth-place Augsburg is currently tied for first.

“So far a lot of the teams that were expected to do well this season have been off to a rough start” said sophomore outside hitter Kristyn Waldhauser. “I think it will be an interesting season not just for us but for the whole MIAC conference.”

With three games played in their MIAC schedule, the Pipers sit tied for seventh in the MIAC with their 1-2 conference record, but the team is staying positive and believing in their talent.

“Our season opener was against Carleton and we played really hard as a team and came out with the W,” said senior middle blocker Beth Goodman. “We weren’t really playing together against Saint Mary’s but we’ve learned from our losses in practice and we’re ready to move on.”

The loss against the Cobbers was a tough one for the Pipers, but Egan still found a few positives to take away from the match.

“Having freshman setter Morgen Coleman see how to run the offense and learn how to feed the beast was good,” said Egan. “If someone’s hot, get them the ball. I saw [outside hitter] Julia Zolnosky, our senior captain, really turn it on in sets two and three, and I saw some lightbulbs go on with our athletes.”

The team faces St. Thomas (11-4, 3-0 MIAC) in their next game. St. Thomas swept the Pipers 3-0 in their only match in 2015 and the Pipers haven’t beaten the Tommies in over a decade.

“All of our games come as a challenge,” said Goodman. “I’m looking forward to the better teams like St. Thomas and hoping we get a chance to upset them because that’s always very exciting.”

The team has yet to lose three games in a row this year, and fighting through the down times is something the team is still learning to do, especially against tough opponents like St. Thomas.

“Our team has been good at dealing with adversity thrown at us so far,” said Waldhauser. “I think it can help us grow as a team.”

The Pipers will take the court in Hutton Arena against St. Thomas tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m.