The Men’s volleyball team saw a two-game win streak come to an end on March 23, 2016, after losing three of the five sets in an intense match against Santa Barbara City College.
Lance Walker, head coach of the Men’s volleyball team, believes their strategy was solid coming into todays match.
“I think we had a good game plan, we knew that depending on where number 13 was, they were going to go to him as much as they could and they did,” Walker said.
Walker observed a well managed performance by his players in Wednesday’s match against SBCC.
“We were serving fairly well, getting them out of system, finding ways to lock them up in rotations, which was very helpful for us when we can point score,” Walker said.
A sedated beginning in the fifth set of the match shifted the balance in what was a tied game, according to Walker.
“In that fifth set we came out to a slow start, and when you are down, and only have to go to 15 points, one or two plays here and there is the difference in that set,” Walker said.
“I hate going five sets because it’s a coin toss of who is going to win, and I think that we probably could have taken care of that,” Walker said.
The 2-2 tie game, coming into the fifth set of the match, came after the Brahmas found a focus that extinguished by the start of the last set, according to Walker.
“We had a little bit of a streak in the middle of the game, lost some focus and that was the deciding factor of that one,” Walker said. “Staying focused for 25 points has been a challenge for us all year.”
Bronson Oliviera, the assistant coach of the team, pushes his players to strive for success every game by dedicating all of their focus to the court.
“We tell our guys all the time all we can ask from them is that they give there all, play as hard as they can, and leave it all out there on the court,” Oliveira said.
The team strategy for the Brahmas next home game against El Camino College is to focus on setting up a nice block at the net, according to number eight, Setter Isaiah Williams.
“If we get a nice block up there where it makes it hard for them to get hits, then we will be able to turn around and finish on them,” Williams said.
Looking into the future of the season for the volleyball team, Walker is confident in the abilities of his players.
“I think it’s really just about continuing to do what we’ve been doing all year, prepare the guys and go ahead and execute,” Walker said.
“We have to keep our head up and keep moving forward, we’ve got five more games to go and hopefully we can beat some of these teams who’ve beat us,” Walker said.
