The varsity girls volleyball team faced off against Los Gatos High School on Oct. 14, losing in three straight sets and falling to a record of 8-8 on the season and 0-6 in their league.

The Matadors scored the first point of the match, but otherwise had little to be excited about in the first set. LGHS came out strong with very clean hitting and built up an eight-point lead early on into the set. MVHS showed a lot of trouble early on, dropping easy balls due to miscommunication. Though the Matadors were able to pull the score back within four points, they could never close the gap. LGHS was able to methodically extend their lead and close out the first set with a final score of 14-25.

LGHS brought its strong play into the second set, scoring the first point and maintaining their small lead for the entire match. Although they dropped the set, the girls found their groove, making fewer mistakes and playing more consistently. The ladies held the match within four points for most of the set and strong hitting from sophomore Ellie Cary kept the girls within striking distance. Even so, the Matadors were not able to keep up with Los Gatos as the visitors went on an 8-3 run late in the set, closing it out, 20-25.

Head coach Colin Anderson acknowledged the problems his team exhibited in the first set but was also happy with their transition into the second.

“We had trouble with the short serves at first,” Anderson said, “but we adapted well and played a lot better in the second set.”

The Matadors kept up this momentum into the third set and were able to keep up with the strong play from LGHS. The Matadors, having fixed a lot of the issues from the beginning of the game, opened up the third set with the first points, and built up their first legitimate lead of the match.  But LGHS continued to play well and took back the lead in the middle of the set. From then on, they began to pull away, and the lead proved too large for the Matadors to overcome.

MVHS lost the match 0-3.

The matadors have a little less than half their season to go, and even with the loss on Tuesday, they remain optimistic about the rest of the season and the looming post-season.

“We hit pretty darn good today,” junior Riku Jandu said. “The first half of the season has been a little bumpy, but we’re looking a lot stronger now.”

Third year varsity player, junior Michelle Wang feels similarly.

“I think we figured out most of our problems,” Wang said. “Communication was the big thing but we’re playing better as a team now.”

However, even with the optimism, the team still has a lot to work on in a relatively short period of time to put together a successful playoff run. Jandu, Wang, and the rest of the varsity team look to finish the second half of their season on a string of wins.

The next home game is on Oct. 16 against Gunn High School at 6:45 pm.