Coach Nabil Mardini celebrates win 400 after dominating the Santa Monica Corsairs in three straight sets.
The Brahmas won, 25-14, 25-16, 25-13.
Mardini said he was happy with the way the team played and he hopes to carry the same energy into future games.
“We’re just getting ready for the playoffs,” Mardini said. “The girls are getting antsy, I’m getting antsy, but you can’t look ahead. You still have to take care of business.”
The win brings the team’s record to 23-3.
The Corsairs were able to keep up at the start of the first set, with Brahmas leading by one or two points. When the Brahmas led 10-8, the tone of the game shifted and Pierce increased their lead.
Multiple kills from Pierce’s outside hitter Cassidy Rosso pressured the Corsairs to call two timeouts within five minutes.
During the second set, the Corsairs were able to close the gaps whenever the Brahmas took the lead. The score tied at 8 and again at 11, but the Brahmas began to maintain their lead at 14-12, making less mistakes and more powerful plays.
Setter Peyton Moyles said the team was able to come back after a slow start in the second set.
“We usually fall back on our fundamentals and our energy and that’s what we can always count on,” Moyles said. “When things start to not go our way, we find all that energy and that’s what we run with and that’s what we use our momentum for.”
From the start of the third set the Brahmas controlled the ball. When the Corsairs scored their first point, the Brahmas had 7. Pierce’s energy and momentum continued until the end of the game, when the Brahmas won the third set, 25-13.
“There was pure energy at the end,” Moyles said. “It was really, really fun to be on the court the whole, entire third set. This was just one of our good games.”
Santa Monica College’s coach, Turhan Douglas, said Pierce always plays with aggression and high energy.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Douglas. “The only advantage we had coming into this is that they would take a team with a record like ours for granted, but I thought my girls played at a real high level. Pierce has a tendency to bring that out in teams.”
This game marked Mardini’s 400 wins, which the team celebrated with confetti and cake on the court once the match was over.
“It means I’ve been here for a long time,” Mardini said. “I appreciate what the girls did. It means a lot to me. A lot of good memories here at Pierce College.”
Douglas, who has known Mardini for a long time, said he thinks highly of him and how well he coaches his team.
“Nabil, in my opinion, is right now the best coach in the country,” Douglas said.
