Alyssa Wejebe
In a close volleyball match in the South Gym last night, the Brahmas lost out against the Long Beach Vikings.The men’s volleyball team at Pierce College ended with a total of two games under their belt, while the Vikings had three, walking away with the victory.
Foreshadowing the game’s final result, Long Beach won the first match, 19-29.
By the second game, the Brahmas returned with new vigor, scoring the first point. They followed all the way through, winning with 30-19.
Victory music suddenly flared up from the sound system at that point.
With the third game, victory and loss alternated again, when the Vikings scored another victory with 23-29.
The struggle between Pierce and Long Beach only intensified as they entered the tiebreaker game
Even that was close, with Long Beach winning at 13-15.
Andy Ouano, with the number two on his Brahma uniform and taped hands, reflected on the loss and the almost victory. He said they “gotta win when games are close.”
“When it’s close, we’ve been struggling,” said Ouano. “Have to pull out big win, if we want to go far.
He said, “we played hard, but they [Long Beach] just played better.”
Oauno’s hands were taped specifically around his thumbs. He said they were “just hurting today.” He also mentioned it was because of “superstition—just always tape” a certain finger.
Kris Johnson, with the number 23 on his Long Beach uniform, spoke about his and the Vikings’ success.
Johnson said they had “hit well,” and that their setting came together.
He said that their team prepared through “wave drills, conditioning, beach training.” Johnson explained that there is a park near their school, with beach volleyball courts to train at.
He said that this was the first time the Vikings played against the Brahmas this year.
Johnson said that he and his team would continue “more block work.”
“Everything else, we’re pretty good.”
He said that it was “fun” playing as the visiting team. “I like going away. Kinda like it better than home.”
Johnson believed his team would be playing Santa Monica next.
Eddie Stanislawski, coach of the men’s volleyball team at Pierce, said that at some “critical points, had some errors that were detrimental” to the final outcome of yesterday’s game.
Despite the loss, Stanislawski said that he thought the Brahmas “matched up physically” with the Vikings.
Stanislawski said that Wednesday would be another home game, this time against Santa Barbara City College.
He said that Santa Barbara would be good since they’ll be “back at full strength.” He explained that before, they had some injured team members. He described the Santa Barbara team as “good players that will challenge us.”
Stanislawski said that the Brahmas trained and honed their teamwork through a “ton of drills, a ton of situational-type things” with scenarios against big hitters and score scenarios (Brahmas are behind or ahead by a certain number).
More information and the full schedule for the men’s volleyball team at Pierce College can be found at http://info.piercecollege.edu/departments/Athletics/mnvolley.html.
