SAC Volleyball was riding the high from their last two wins against Grossmont Griffins and Moonpark Raiders as they set to face off against the Orange Coast Pirates last Wednesday. Music jammed throughout the gym and the crowd was eager to see the team take home another victory, but SAC fell short , 3-0.
The first set SAC came out swinging. They took a 14-9 lead at one point, but once SAC reached 14 points, their progress was stunted as the Pirates scored 7 unanswered points.
With time left in the first set, there was hope SAC could still pull it together, right?
The score now being 16-14, SAC and the Pirates went punch for punch, scoring one after another. This went on until SAC ran into their next roadblock: 21 points.
SAC couldn’t get past as the Pirates would slide to a first set W, reaching 25 points.
“We were surprised by what the other team could do,” said sophomore outside hitter and opposite hitter Emma Carson (10), “we haven’t struggled like that as a team so far yet. So I think that was just a learning experience for us, a roadblock that we have to get past.”
As the SAC supporters were ready for set two, the same couldn’t be said about SAC themselves.
SAC would go down in set two 11-4, a deficit that this team wasn’t used to seeing. Something was off about SAC that night, the Pirates had seemed to cut the power to the batteries in the backs of the SAC volleyball players.
“We did not show up today with our energy and that was disappointing,” said head coach Samantha Neely,” we feed off of discipline and falling down to our preparation and trusting ourselves and our teammates and I think we missed a lot of those points today.”
Once SAC got to 14 points again in the second set, it was their chance to see if they could make a way past this wicked number. But the minute SAC finally punched their 16th point, the Pirates were already sprinting past the finish line, scoring another 25.
“I try to bring the team together as best I can and keep the morale up,” said Carson (10),”it’s at least to have a good mental space about it, it doesn’t always work, but I do the best I can.”
The third set would show that SAC just had a bad day at the office and wanted to go home. The Pirates would slam 12 points on the scoreboard while SAC watched. SAC would score three points just to show that they didn’t rage quiet, but their lack of energy spoke loudly.
“We have [what] our coach calls a toolkit,” said Carson (10),”we have a lot of tools that we can use but we just didn’t use them in this game.”
Once SAC scored nine points, the Pirates were already four points away from not only winning the battle, but winning the war. SAC would try to rally together for one final push but fell short, 25-16.
Losing to the Pirates 3-0
With a game like that, SAC hopes to put that game behind them and get back on the road to victory.
“Our game plan is [to] continue to work on our skills and get better,” said coach Neely,”but ultimately not allow for that showing again.”
SAC would have a quick turnaround in the games and results. Beating the Riverside Tigers 3-0 a couple days later Friday, Sep. 12. With such a strong bounce back against the Tigers, SAC looks to continue their winning ways against the Mt. San Jacinto Eagles on Sep. 17.
