With three games left in the men’s volleyball season and a 2 1/2 game lead over Albertus Magnus College for the sixth and final playoff spot, the task is simple: win and they’re in.
The task, actually, is even simpler than that. As long as the Falcons don’t win every remaining game and the Lions don’t lose every remaining game, Emerson will qualify for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference postseason for the fifth year in a row.
“We’ve pretty much guaranteed ourselves a spot in the playoffs; at the very least we are going to be the sixth seed,” said head coach Ben Read. “[In terms of seeding], we’ve just stopped looking at the scenarios because there’s too many close calls with who beats who, other head-to-head matchups.”
Though it’s unlikely, the Lions still have a mathematical shot of leapfrogging positions into the third spot in the playoff standings. They are 2 1/2 games behind Emmanuel College for the fifth seed and three games behind Lasell College and Johnson & Wales University, respectively, for the third seed.
Read said he isn’t worried about who the Lions end up playing, and instead looks at the playoffs as an opportunity to take advantage of scouting done in the first two matchups of each GNAC team.
“The way we’ve been playing, we’ve done better the second time around against our opponents,” said Read. “Now it’s about knowing the team we are playing and knowing some of their tendencies that we can use to our advantage. We will have a good grasp on whoever our opponent is.”
The Lions (12-10, 4-7 in conference) continue their GNAC schedule on Thursday, April 2 against the Lasell College Lasers (19-8, 7-4 in conference).