Varsity girls volleyball lost 1-3 (25-21, 20-25, 9-25, 27-29) to the Homestead Mustangs in the Sept. 27 Bull Spirit contest. This edition of EESN includes interviews from senior Justine Urauchi and junior Lyan Cogan. Video by Albert Qiu, Christophe Haubursin, Dickson Tsai, Kevin Guo, and Kevin Tsukii. Music: “Where You Are Now” by Alex (ft. WolfFly) is licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY 3.0.
Purple and gold lined the stand as spirit commission paced the stands with rolls of tickets. They chose to promo the game on Sept. 27 against Homestead High School with a raffle for Jamba Juice and a chance to support the varsity girls volleyball team.The Matadors kicked off the game with a solid start, leading the first game at 7-5. With Bull Spirit pumping up the crowd, the team had high energy and intensity.
“We were really excited because we know that we’re a pretty equally matched team with Homestead,” junior captain Serena Chew said. “We came in thinking it would be a tough game but that we would be able to pull out a win.”
Senior Savannah Day sent net-skimming serves over the net to put the Matadors up six points, keeping their lead at 19-13. Day scored aces throughout the match, which helped the team gain momentum and continue their offensive attacks.
The Matadors continued to strategically place the ball in the court with tips and kills, giving them a safe 24-17 lead. Sophomore Beverly Yu smashed the ball into the middle of the court, out of reach of the Mustang defenders to secure a victorious 25-20 win for the first game.
The Matadors and Mustangs both picked up their game resulting in a neck-and-neck battle.
The score lead went back and forth between the two teams, as both sides had similar strategies. After being tied at 6-6, Day continued her strong serves from the first game and was able to put the Matadors up 13-12 with another powerful ace.
Yu then slammed the ball short in the court to tie up the game once again 15-15. The Matadors’ rhythm began to slow down towards the end of the game, allowing the Mustangs to gain a 24-20 lead. Senior Stephanie Zhang placed a strategic tip in the corner of the court to put the team back in the competition.
Despite the save, the Matadors were unable to fend off the Mustangs, losing the second game 25-21.
The third game began with the Mustangs dominating with a 9-0 lead. The Matadors had a difficult time setting up the offense but was able to capitalize on HHS’s missed serves. The third game ending 25-9.
“Our defense couldn’t get up to speed until the last game,” Chew said, “Our blocks weren’t getting there, and our diggers weren’t getting there in time.”
Despite recurring offensive and net play issues in the fourth game, the Matadors were able to set up spikes to hold a one to two point lead throughout the game. As the game edged toward the end with a close 24-23 point game, HHS lost many opportunities due to serving errors, MVHS was unable to take advantage of the opposition’s blunders, losing the match 29-27 in overtime.
The Matadors next home game will be at Gunn High School on Sept. 29.
