Girls’ Volleyball Faces Off Against San Marino Titans

WESLEY TSAI
Staff Writer

Prior to their second game, the Moors lost after an intense match ending against the Flintridge Rebels with a set score of 3-2. With a 0-1 preseason record, the girls’ varsity volleyball team held their second consecutive home game against the San Marino Titans on Sept. 4. With high expectations from the team members, the Moors warmed up with heads held up high as they swung with all they had during hitting drills.

Starting off the first set, the Titans pushed for five points but as the Moors broke the momentum by the Titan’s mental mistakes, the score rallied back to 6-11 by kills from the Titans. Starting on a fast pace on the Titans side, the Moors slowly closed in due to play saving dives and kills by front row players. The first set consisted mostly of aces and violations such as net errors, but kills made by Titan’s freshman outside hitter Sofia Sanchez forced the first set to close with a final score of 13-25.

With strong serves coming from San Marino’s side, the team pushed the score to 3-5 in the second set. Creeping onto the Titans, the Moors blocked, aced and killed the ball tying the set score at 6-6, generating crowd chants for the Moor to strive for more. Junior backside hitter Melody Luo dove for the ball to save the play ending with junior Nadia Gov spiking the ball away making the audience feel electric. As a result, the crowd cheered with excitement as they screamed the “side-out” chant. Charmayne Floyd of San Marino put the kill away, which forced a timeout on the Moors. After the timeout ended, the Titans scored off an ace to conclude the second set.

To give the Moors momentum in the third set, Gov pushed points by blocking and killing the ball consecutively. As the Moors did their routinely chant after every kill or block, the Titans managed to step up and pushed a heavy number of points. Sofia Sanchez of San Marino pushed three aces, making the score 10-20. With the last play, Titans player Lauren Takeyama put the ball away with a kill ending the game at 12-25.

“[The game] was a good competition; the Moors had good passing and they were able to hit the ball [well],” San Marino freshman outside hitter Sofia Sanchez said.

After the loss against San Marino, the Moors brought their morale back after winning two matches against the Rosemead Panthers and the Arroyo Knights.

“We need to work on our energy and defense by being louder and talking to each other more. It gets frustrating when we can’t put those together because they are essential to this game,” Luo said.

With a preseason of 2-3, the Moors will have a game facing the Gabrielino Eagles on Sept. 19.

“The energy was lacking [and] the girls were intimidated by the height. It’s always going to be the mental game with them. They just need to have the confidence to play. They just need to believe it and encourage each other,” Head Coach Charles Tran said.