Volleyball falls to Canyons

Ashley Geren / Roundup

The Lady Brahmas lost their tenth volleyball match of the season at home Friday to the Cougars of College of the Canyons, after losing several points per game for illegal ball contact, wide swings, long serves and net violations.

“The referee called any tiny trivial spin a double, so he set the tone at the very beginning of the match,” said assistant coach Brad Lyans. “Yeah, its disappointing to see that, but after the first ball that he called, we should have tightened up our playing. We didn’t adjust to the referee calls the way we should have.”

The second set’s final point was delayed with a dig by Pierce libero Alexa Micek when she slid to save a point, but ultimately the set was also lost when Pierce’s following serve hit the net.

Pierce coaches got into an argument with the referee based on another call for a mishandled ball.

“I think the ref called it tight on the ball handling. We definitely had some spin, but not every one was doubling,” said head coach Nabil Mardini. “It’s a judgment call; every ref is different. I definitely don’t think the calls were in our favor. Twenty errors in the second game didn’t give us much of a chance to come back.”

The men’s volleyball team, also known as the Brahmaniacs when coming to support their female counterparts, ran their traditional lap following the mascot around the court wearing only speedos and comical accessories. The coach had to tell them to get off the court at one point of the game.

The energy raised during the third set after a kill point by outside hitter Karly Siverts and another saving dig by Micek, giving the Brahmas a lead before a timeout called by CougarsReanna Hill served on the Brahmas’ game point and Karley Siverts made the kill to win the third game for Pierce. The fans were enthusiastic as the men’s volleyball team did another “bull run” around the court.

In game four, a yellow card was called for by the Cougars and the game was delayed during the official timeout.

“When the coach called for the red card, it got us even more pumped to win,” said Cougar libero Brooklyn Arndt.

Game four was lost to the Cougars for a new season record of 4-10 for Pierce.

“It was a frustrating loss. They’re our rivals. We were hoping to come through to Game 5 (for the win),” Alexa Micek said.