Coburn Palmer / Roundup
Pink was the color of the night as October is breast cancer awareness month and Pierce College’s women’s volleyball team met up at home with Glendale College
Early on, the fans for both teams were fairly sparse, but there were easily over a hundred attendants by midway through the first match, and people trickled in throughout all three matches covered in pink.
Unforced errors and disjointed play on both sides ate at players and coaches alike throughout the evening, but the Brahmas would triumph in three straight matches garnering the win over the Vaqueros.
“I was hoping for a more competitive match,” said Sam Crutcher, up referee for the game.
Both teams looked confident during warm-ups, and Mike Soto filled the opening ceremonies with vigorous sound from his electronic keyboard and stereo.
Early in the first match, the Pierce players looked a bit unfocused. There were miscommunications between players, serves batted into the net, and lofted sets just struck wrong.
Juliana Hicks managed to solidify the Brahma offense midway through game one as she batted two ace serves down across the net, leaving the Vaquero defense scrambling to keep up.
Pierce would take care of the first match, 25-16.
Soto was on his game as well, adding a musical sting to every point Pierce pounded past the Glendale defense and filling the stadium with classic rock during time outs.
The second game saw a more confident Pierce offense, outscoring the Vaqueros two to one, but the Brahmas kept giving points away with net violations and mishandled balls.
“We didn’t play as well as we should have,” said Samantha Potter, outside hitter.
Pierce managed to keep the attacks going and won the second match, 25-14.
The third match began with a vicious volley, both teams diving for digs and flipping the ball back and forth across the net.
Glendale pushed hard, maintaining a standoff in points until about halfway through the match; then the Brahmas decided that was enough and muscled their way to a third straight victory, 25-17.
Afterwards, Pierce head coach Nabil Mardini was reserved. “Lots of errors, but a win is a win,” he said.
The head coach of Glendale College, Yvonne Ybarra, was less so. “I don’t feel anything right now,” she said.
—
cpalmer.roundupnews@gmail.com
