As the calendar flips into the last month of the semester, Emerson College’s men’s volleyball finds itself in the middle of the most important week of their season — the last one. With one week to go in, it’s do or die time for the Lions.

Emerson dug themselves a hole after dropping their matchup in a battle of the lions to the Wheaton College Lyons 3-0 last Friday. The scoreboard suggests that the match was out of reach for the Lions, but the third set proved otherwise.

After trailing 16-5, head coach Ben Read called his second and final timeout of the third set. The words exchanged in that huddle fired Emerson up, and they started playing like a completely different team.

Junior captain Riley Goldman was a man on a mission as he and the Lions hunted down Wheaton. During this stretch in the game, Goldman totaled two kills and a service ace, and made key plays on defense. 

Read joked during the match with his players on the Lyon’s gameplan about how the set became so close and what started to work for Emerson.

“Ten points was enough for them to lead by to take their starters out, but then we cut it to five, and even then with their starters back, we came right back,” Read recalled. “We were able to outwork them and kept focusing on what worked for us while they were slacking off.”

The energy and excitement in the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym peaked after an intense rally ended in an error on a set by Wheaton, tying the game 21-21, and forcing the Lyons to take their first timeout of the match.

But what goes up must come down. In this case, it was Wheaton dropping the hammer on the Lions as they scored the next four points to put the nail in the coffin on Emerson’s dream comeback.

“We could have communicated more as a team rather than focus on each other’s shortcomings,” said first-year middle blocker Jack Ferrie. “We’re a very emotional team overall, but we’re trying to learn from it.”

Coming into their final week of the season, Read wanted to hone on the energy the Lions fought with when their backs were against the wall for their final two games.

“That’s the spark I can see us play entire matches with and make crucial plays and decisions,” Read said. “If we made the adjustments that happened during that stretch after the first set instead of halfway through the third, then we could be talking about a much different result.”

Read told his players to aim their serves deeper across the opposite corner of the court and read the other team’s tendencies better to outplay them on defense. However, in trying to alter their strategies quickly, Read believes receiving so much feedback and criticisms as a young team can be overwhelming — the team only has two upperclassmen, and six first-year players.

“In the middle of a game, I could be trying to get their attention to tell them about a great play they just made, or to make a very tiny adjustment to where they are on the court, and it can be confusing,” Read said.

Emerson’s men’s volleyball is a young squad that isn’t finding immediate success; according to Read, it can be difficult trying to find the positives this season brings. 

“When you’re not consistently winning, it sucks and your mind will go to everything that went bad,” Read said. “I want to remind them of the plays they do make when taking a good swing at the ball and improving their mindsets.”

The Lions continue to battle a small roster, something that has plagued them the entire year. Read noted when there isn’t full availability at practice, it’s hard to keep everyone on the same page. But this shouldn’t linger into next season with a deep recruiting class doubling the roster.

Despite a 3-0 loss to the Elms College Blazers Tuesday, Emerson is still alive in their final GNAC playoff race before moving to the NEWMAC next season. After a loss to top-ranked Lasell University, the Regis College Pride will travel to Emerson on Saturday for Senior Day at 11 a.m. with the final playoff spot on the line.

“It’s an exciting time of the season,” Read said. “For Senior Day to determine our postseason chances is as dramatic of a finish you could ask for.”