Lorrie Reyes
Pierce College’s women’s volleyball team beat Citrus College during a must win Western State Conference South match up in three games (20-25, 14-25, 13-25) at Citrus on Tuesday to stay in the running for a playoff spot.
Going into Tuesday’s faceoff, both Pierce and Citrus were tied for fourth place, with a 2-3 record in conference play, the winner stays in playoff contention and the loser falls to a 2-4 record and has a long climb to back to the top.
“Whoever wins this match has a handle on the second round of the conference,” said Citrus College’s Head Coach Shin Jung. ” Nabil (Pierce College women’s volleyball head coach) and I both know that we can beat the other teams “
Having played all the teams in their conference the Owls and Brahmas records are identical.
Both school’s losses have come from College of the Canyons, Bakersfield and Glendale Colleges but Citrus took Glendale to five games on October 20 and Pierce lost in three straight games on October 13.
“We know that they have the same record as us in conference,” said Assistant Coach Brad Lyans “Tonight is a must win to keep us alive for playoffs.”
With all of the hype going into the game the Brahmas showed confidence and teamwork during the game to pull off a sweep against Citrus.
After a close battle in game 1, Pierce took games 2 and 3 pretty easily by taking advantage of Citrus weaknesses.
“Serving was the key,” said Jung “they exploited who our bad passer was a just kept serving to her.”
Gracie Shedd, Pierce’s sophomore setter, led the game with 36 assists to bring her team leading total of 2009 to 641 assists.
“We won the serving and passing battle,” said Head Coach Nabil Mardini. “Shedd did a very good job setting.”
Pierce’s middle blockers Natasha Wilroy and Megan McKee were tied with eight kills to lead the game.
Wilroy, who also came into the game leading the team in kills with 134, had two huge exclamation points in games one and three to put Citrus away.
“I didn’t want there to be any regrets about losing that game because I couldn’t put it away,” said Wilroy.
The Lady Brahmas are now 3-3 in their conference and have their goals set on evening the score against the teams that beat them in the first half.
“We are looking forward to playing those teams we lost to,” said Mardini. “I look forward to going 6-0, we are taking them one at a time but we can do it.”
Pierce’s next must win game is against rival College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita on Tuesday.
