Kaitlin Loria ‘27 is an outside hitter for the Little Hawks who has been a key factor in little hawk volleyball over the past 3 years. Since her first moments on the court, Loria has made a positive impact on the volleyball team. Though she was always influential, this year Loria has had to step into a bigger role.
“Becoming an upperclassman, I feel my confidence has just gotten a lot better since my sophomore and freshman years.”
This year, Loria feels a difference in not only herself, but the team as a whole.
“I feel like there’s some bigger differences since last year with having our seniors gone, but I feel like we’ve been able to fill those roles pretty easily. People have really stepped up, especially missing another outside. But there hasn’t been a huge difference with how we play. We still play the same. We still run things the same. We work super hard, and I feel like we’re always pushing one another, so we obviously hope for our record to get better. We’ve definitely made some changes [from the beginning of the season]. For example, we started running a five one instead of a six two. So we’re only having one center. We only have one person setting us now, instead of having a bunch of other girls setting us, so it’s easier especially for the hitters,” Loria said.
The Little Hawks are entering their last regular season game with a record of 8-14, and Loria believes that she and the team are more than their record.
“I really hope our record improves, because we work so hard and I feel like we have improved a lot since the beginning of the season,” said Loria with a smile.
As the Little Hawks enter the post-season, they will face some intense games. This is nothing new to Loria, though. Being a 3 year starter in basketball and volleyball, the junior has had lots of experience in high pressure situations, and never fails to perform under them. She currently leads the team in serve aces with 16. Loria finds that being in the right place mentally is critical if she wants to play at peak performance. Although she feels her confidence has already improved compared to previous seasons, Loria says she wants to work on “improving [her] confidence when passing and blocking,”
Whenever Loria finds herself in her head during an intense match or game, she “remembers that it should all be fun and you need to smile through all of it, no matter the situation.”
If she had to give a piece of advice to a young player trying to improve their performance as a female athlete, Loria says it would be to “have fun and play as hard as you can at all times, and just leave everything you can on the floor every time you play, and you will not regret a thing,”
As for the rest of her career as a Little Hawk, Loria says she is “just looking forward to spending time with [her] teammates and making many more memories.”
