Music was rockin’ through the gym, the lights were bright, and the stage was set for another showdown between the Mt. SAC women’s volleyball team and the Pasadena City Lancers. The last time SAC played the Lancers was Oct. 9, 2024 where they won 3-1. A year since that matchup, SAC once again brought home the 3-2 win, but it was an all out slug fest with the Lancers.

Right from the start of the game it didn’t take SAC long to get on the board.

Mayah Tiscareno (20), Emma Carson (10) and freshman setter Morgan Wilson (11) were the triple threat to give SAC their first two points. Sophomore middle blocker and opposite hitter Eva Fisher (21) wanted a piece of the pie too, and joined in on the action making the score 3-1 in favor of SAC.

“Going into the first set, we knew that the momentum had to be controlled by us from start to finish if we wanted to seal our fate,” head coach Samantha Neely said.

The crowd was going crazy for SAC, and SAC was feeling the energy, but so were the Lancers who were not about to back down. The Lancers went on to score three straight points against SAC.

A service error by the Lancers resulted in the end of that streak, which granted SAC a point and the ball back.

“I think we came out really strong in the first set,” Valentine (9) said. ”And we knew that this was a very strong team.”

SAC made a 7-2 point run on the Lancers before the Lancers made three critical subs that would turn the game on its head, rattling SAC a bit.

It was the Lancers turn to go on a run.

The Lancers made a 7-2 run of their own and once SAC scored their next point, the score was 13-13. An even battlefield.

“Momentum is something that is easily lost, and something that is very hard to gain back,” Coach Neely said. ”In order to gain it back, you need international effort, a game plan and good execution.”

The crowd in the gym was loud and made sure to do everything they could to try to keep the momentum on SAC’s side. The first set would go back and forth until SAC would finally come out on top 25-23.

“Shout out to Mountie Nation,” coach Neely said,” the crowd was incredible, the support is amazing and we’re so thankful for that.”

The next two sets were the sets that showed SAC that the Lancers weren’t just trying to take part of the game, they were trying to take over. The Lancers would win both sets two and three 25-20 and 25-22. SAC needed to pull it together and win this next set or it was all over.

“In the second and third set we kind of just found our groove a little too late.” Valentine (9) said.

“I think that we just needed to put in more focus.” Wilson (11) said,”just make our serve stay consistent, just play our game.”

And play their game is exactly what SAC would do as they would win another back and forth battle against the Lancers. Winning the fourth set, 25-21, SAC gave themselves another life line.

Now it is do or die for both SAC and the Lancers.

“We didn’t want to lose that at home,” Valentine (9) said.”So we brought the energy, we brought our performance and then in the fifth set, we brought it all together.”

SAC and the Lancers would continue to follow the regular game script of trading blows to begin the fifth set. Until SAC’s hunger for the win grew to an immeasurable amount as they would score nine points back to back to back.

The Lancers started to look finished as SAC looked like they caught a second wind.

“I think once we started to trust that game plan a little bit more, that’s when we started to really control the momentum,” coach Neely said.”I’m proud of our confidence. I’m proud of the way we were resilient.”

The Lancers would only score four more points before the tag team duo of Silva (12) and Wilson (11) would finish the job and score the winning point for SAC.

“We gotta count on us,” coach Neely said. “We gotta get better, we gotta believe in what we’re capable of and so we’re soaring to the top as far as where our goals are at.”

SAC has now won three straight games in a row and look to continue that streak by beating the Los Angeles City Cubs Oct. 15.