3 minute read
Women's Volleyball gets first conference victory
Kevin Peyton / Roundup
After losing the first set 17-25, the Pierce College women’s volleyball team went on to take three consecutive sets 25-7, 25-20, 25-14, against the Corsairs of Santa Monica College in a matchup of Western State Conference Southern division rivals.
Head Coach Nabil Mardini called the teams’ performance “outstanding.”
“We did a good job of taking Santa Monica out of their system,” said Mardini. “That’s key in volleyball.”
In a game in which both teams displayed tremendous energy and effort, both Mardini and asistant coach Brad Lyans were happy with the effort their players put into the game.
“I am very, very happy,” said Mardini. “We haven’t played like this in a long time.”
After dropping the first set, the Lady Brahmas went on to rout the Corsairs in the second set.
“I had a good feeling we were going to win this match after that performance,” said Lyans.
Mardini credits the teams’ second-guessing of themselves for the slow start in the first set.
“They second-guess themselves, and they lose confidence, and they don’t play their game. When you don’t second-guess yourself and you trust your instincts, you are going to be OK. That was the key. As soon as they built confidence they fed off each other and they just played hard.”
“They gave us a little scare in the first game,” said Lyans. “The last three sets we were loose. We served tough.”
The Lady Brahmas took a 10-5 advantage in the third set after a long rally was finished on a kill from Megan Mckee. A Corsairs comeback would be in the works however, cutting the lead to 12-10, forcing a Pierce timeout. The Lady Brahmas would eventually be victorious on the set.
The Lady Brahmas record improves to 5-11 overall and 1-2 in conference play. The Corsairs meanwhile fell to 2-9 overall and 0-4 in conference. Pierce had lost four consecutive games heading into the contest.
When asked if this victory could be a turning point in his teams’ season, Mardini replied, “I hope so, with all the injuries its been a bad year.”
“The conference has not been won yet,” said Lyans. “We’re only three matches into this conference. We’re now 1-2. If we build from this point, [we] easily, easily could win the conference.”
Sophomore Brooke McFerren led Pierce with 18 kills on the evening, followed by freshman Reanna Hill, who contributed by providing 13 kills.
The Lady Brahmas will hit the road to face off against Bakersfield on Tuesday before returning home to take on West L.A. College on Oct. 23.
