Brahmas Ace Ventura Pierce bounces back after the team’s first loss of the season

Schedule

Oct. 14 to Oct. 21

Water Polo

Wednesday, Oct. 21 vs. Santa Barbara, 3:30 p.m.

Soccer

Friday, Oct. 16 vs. Ventura, 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 20 vs. Cuesta, 4 p.m.

Football

Saturday, Oct. 17 at Southwest, 6 p.m.

Volleyball

Wednesday, Oct. 14 at Mission, 6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 16 vs. Cuesta, 6 p.m.

@VRodriguez2100

The Pierce College volleyball team resumed its winning momentum against Ventura, on Oct. 9 in the South Gym.

The team won in four sets 2523 Ventura, 25-17 Pierce, 25-17 Pierce, 26-24 Pierce. Pierce was fi rst on the scoreboard, quickly gaining a 2-0 lead. The Brahmas were aggressive in the fi rst set, despite losing to the Pirates.

Head Coach of the Ventura College volleyball team, Brad Lyans, explained the dynamics between these two teams.

“We are a very under-sized team. We play like that every match so it’s not like it’s something new. We were number 20 in the state, [and] they’re number one,” Lyans said. The Brahmas and the Pirates have a mixed history. Lyans is a Pierce College alumni who played on the volleyball team while attending. In addition to having played for Pierce, Lyans also coached the Brahmas for some time.

“We know a lot about them because I went here, because I played here, I coached here with Nabil for many years so I have very strong ties to the program. I know what they do here, I know the style of volleyball they play, and it’s easy to talk about it and work on it at practice,” Lyans said.

Nabil Mardini, head coach of the Pierce College volley- ball team, wasn’t surprised by the ferocious nature the Pirates displayed when they won the fi rst set.

“Everybody’s going to come hungry against the Brahmas. When you’re number one in the state what do you expect?” Mardini said.

The second set brought about a true back-and-forth between the two teams. The Brahmas managed to establish dominance before an overturned ruling from the main referee gave them the set at 2517.

After losing its undefeated streak, the Brahmas have been waiting to get back on top.

“After Wednesday’s game, the resilience, the bounce-back [they’ve shown]...they kept looking for a way to win. The girls stuck to the game plan, we knew what Ventura was capable of doing,” Mardini said. Pierce successfully used fakeout tactics and multiple powerful spikes courtesy of sophomore Zaire Dartis, an outside hitter.

“We started off really slow and then I think in the second game we woke up and that’s why it showed in the score,” Dartis said, “We wanted to come back strong from that just to show that we’re not phased by that loss at all.”

The Brahmas fi nished off the third set without a hitch, scoring a tight 25-17 lead. Darrin Rice, a sophomore and team libero, dished out several aces and good serves in general.

“It’s defi nitely not the results we were planning on. We were hoping to take them in three [sets] but you know a win’s a win,” Rice said. “We defi nitely came back ready to win. We never want to feel the feeling we felt on