Alhambra Girls Volleyball Aced by San Gabriel
BRYAN ALBARRAN Copy Editor
On Sept. 11, the Alhambra girls volleyball team went up against San Gabriel High School in a home conference. The match marked the Alhambra girls’ second game of the season, following a close loss of 1-3 to Bell Gardens. Regardless, the Lady Moors went into their previous game with high expectations and a sense of excitement.
“The team was especially anticipating this game because we believed that this was the perfect opportunity to beat San Gabriel’s varsity volleyball team, something we haven’t done in a while,” junior Captain Serena Lee said.
The game began with an instant score from the Alhambra girls, resulting in a sudden boost of confidence. The first set consisted of many intense situations where a single play would last longer than a few minutes. As San Gabriel scored their own points, the Lady Moors were able to retaliate quickly and stop the Lady Matador’s in their tracks. Eventually, the Alhambra team was able to maintain the San Gabriel team at a score of 8 while the Moors scored consistently. The first set ended with a score of 25-8 with the first set win going to Alhambra. As the second set began, the San Gabriel girls began to exhibit an increased sense of determination and they completely turned the game around. The second half marked the beginning of the end for the Lady Moors. As usual, they were able to score a great number of points for every set, but the San Gabriel team always remained close behind. After five or six minutes into the sets, the score would usually begin with the Lady Moors in the lead. In the last three sets, the lead only lasted for a while as the Lady Matador’s HARD-AT-WORK The volleyball team does cooperative drills during their daily practice MOOR photo by HAYLIE ROSALES fought back and ended those sets with a score of 19-25, leaving the overall score as 1-3 with San Gabriel High as the winners.
“Obviously, we were all bummed out about the fact that we lost but in the end, we huddled together, reflected on our actions, and aimed to improve by the next game,” senior Captain Queenie Ly said.
Although the match ended in a loss, the Alhambra team plans to reflect on the game and use it as a chance to improve. The varsity girls are now changing the way they practice in order to focus more on improving their mistakes during the matches. Since the season has just barely begun, the Lady Moors are carefully inspecting their past matches to prepare themselves for facing their remaining school rivals such as the usually formidable Schurr High School Spartans.
“We know that Schurr is a very skilled team but instead of being intimidated, we are working to convert our emotions into encouragement to win against them,” Ly said.
The girl’s volleyball team will next be going against Montebello on Sept. 20 in an away conference at 3:30 p.m.