Lady Moors’ Varsity Volleyball Team Overcomes Montebello Oilers in Rematch Game
DAVID TAN
Staff Writer
The varsity girls’ volleyball team started the Oct. 18 game against the Montebello Oilers with an Almont League record of 1-5. It was not the season they had hoped for but they came into this game with determination and confidence.
Since their loss against the Oilers on Oct. 2, the Lady Moors have made changes to their defense and continued to improve on their fundamentals during practice.
The team was confident that they could come out victorious against Montebello. They were focused on performing at the level that they felt they were capable of.
“The main focus for our game [is to be consistent],” senior outside hitter Pamela Minjarez said. “The key to winning points is good [defense].”
The Oilers started the game aggressively by scoring the first three points of the game. Montebello led most of the first set until a hit by junior middle hitter Tiffany Sum, tied the score at 19-19. The Lady Moors eventually took a momentary lead at 21-20 after an out-of-bounds hit by Montebello. However, Montebello prevailed in the first set, winning 24-26.
In the second set, Alhambra came out strong and took a commanding lead of 6-0. A spike by senior hitter Yvonne Reyes later raised the score to 7-1. The Lady Moors continued to keep their lead large and three kills by Reyes led to a 25-11 set victory for the Lady Moors.
The beginning of the third set started out close with neither team leading by more than five points at a time. The Lady Moors capitalized on the careless hits made by the Oilers and eventually took a more comfortable lead against them. A kill by sophomore outside hitter Kaile Wu advanced the score to 13-8. Alhambra eventually pulled forward and won the set 25-19 on a kill by junior middle hitter Tiffany So.
The Lady Moors closed the game, winning the fourth set by limiting their mistakes. A hit out-of-bounds by the Oilers led to a win for the team. They won the set 25-18 and the game with a final score of 3-1.
“As a team, I think this was one of the best games that we played,” senior captain Taylor Warren said.
Although they won, Coach Tran still feels that there are things that they are able to continue to improve on, such as staying focused and starting out the game strong.
With this win, the Lady Moors advanced to 2-5 in their league record. Despite a win, the Lady Moors feel like they should continue to work to become better and finish their season strong. The team currently has a season record of 2-7.
“When the other team makes a run, we need to learn how to extinguish it quickly. We also need to work on having that ‘killer instinct’ to finish a team off!” Head Coach Charles Tran said.