“Sometimes you’ve just got to trust the process,” Laura Masciullo said.  With this particular utterance, the Hofstra senior and 2019 Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year referred to her experience moving to the United States from Italy as a freshman on somewhat of a whim, speaking minimal English. 

But the 2019 Hofstra volleyball team also adopted the same phrase as its mantra for the season. After winning the 2018 CAA Championship and making the program’s ninth NCAA Tournament appearance (where they lost to No. 7-seeded Nebraska in the first round), the Pride lost five major contributors—four to graduation and one to a transfer. Head coach Emily Mansur knew that her 2019 team could still contend for the top spot in the conference, but the results wouldn’t come right away.