Emporia State’s Mandy Chutskoff admitted that she let the crowd get to her.
And this crowd was wearing mostly black and gold.
“I was a little shaky in the beginning,” the senior outside hitter said, “but then I stopped and realized there’s no reason, no need to be.”
After playing 13 consecutive matches on the road, Chutskoff and the Hornet volleyball team found the biggest obstacle Wednesday night was dealing with the stage fright of opening night at home.
Luckily for ESU, the butterflies subsided in time for a shaky 34-32, 30-24, 30-22 victory over Fort Hays State at White Auditorium.
“Hopefully we’ll learn from it and play more relaxed,” ESU volleyball coach Bing XU said, “because we’re much, much better that what we just performed.”
The Hornets’ nerves were especially evident in Game One.
After taking a 15-10 lead and forcing an FHSU timeout, ESU became its own worst enemy.
Mistakes led to additional mistakes, and ESU dropped nine straight points to fall behind 19-15.
“We were tense,” Chutskoff said, “for no reason at all.”
ESU pulled itself together just in time.
The Hornets went on a six-point run of their own to make it 24-22, then made the plays when they needed to late.
Hannah Carter had her spike blocked out of bounds by Fort Hays, and the Tigers followed with a hitting error to give the Hornets the first game, 34-32.
“We were a little hesitant,” Carter said. “We’ve been working really hard, and I don’t know if that showed really well.”
ESU (7-7, 1-1) looked more comfortable in its surroundings during the second and third games.
The Hornets ended the second game on a 12-5 spurt. Chutskoff led ESU with seven kills during the game.
Fort Hays State never threatened in Game Three. ESU led by as many as 10 points, with Jennifer Remmereid contributing six kills.
“It was the same last year in the first home match,” Xu said. “Hopefully, we learn how to play from this.”
Chutskoff led all hitters with 16 kills, while Leah Griswold added eight.
The loss dropped Fort Hays State to 1-14 overall.
ESU will have many opportunities to improve at home in the next week. After traveling to Pittsburg State on Saturday, the Hornets are home for matches against Washburn on Wednesday, Northwest Missouri on Friday and Missouri Western on Saturday.
The four-day stretch gives ESU three of its eight total home dates.
Xu said his players would have to learn to play more composed in the familiar setting.
“They care about everything happening on the court,” Xu said. “Sometimes, they have to know how to get rid of some things. We can’t care so much that we don’t have anything left to play. That’s too much weight on our shoulders.”
Chutskoff said the team should be better the next time around.
“I think as we played on, we got rid of the jitters,” Chutskoff said, “and performed as we can.”