The women’s volleyball team came out with its first California Collegiate Athletic Association victory on Thursday as the Broncos took on the Humboldt State Lumberjacks.
After upsetting losses from the previous weekend, it was time to brush that off and put their game faces on.
Although they fell short in the first set to the Lumberjacks, 24-26, that didn’t seem to affect them. The next three sets were dominated by the Broncos.
The second set started the Broncos’ winning streak.
Something kicked into the Broncos and there was a definite turning point in the way they were playing.
“I think our passing got a lot better,” head coach Traci Dahl said. “Our first touch on the ball just became more controlled. Our serving was much stronger and got stronger throughout the night and that was a big turning point for the whole entire team.”
The Broncos took the Lumberjacks to 25-21 in the second set. The third set went to the Broncos with the score ending at 27-25. As close as the third set was, the Broncos made sure to keep their winning streak alive.
As the Lumberjacks battled as hard as they could, they couldn’t beat the Broncos’ run. The fourth set’s score ended with the Broncos taking the winning set, 25-14.
With a 3-1 win, the Broncos huddled together and celebrated their win.
When evaluating what they could improve from this past weekend’s tournament, Dahl had a game plan.
“We had Monday and Tuesday to practice, and Wednesday for travel,” Dahl said. “We buckled down Monday and Tuesday and worked on a few items that needed some improvement. We did a little bit of a lineup change.”
The Broncos redeemed themselves and had takeaways from Thursday’s game that they will utilize in the future.
“My biggest takeaway from tonight’s game is probably that even though we didn’t perform the best we could last weekend, that doesn’t define us as a team,” freshman defensive specialist Mikayla Diamond said. “We are much stronger and better than that as we proved today against Humboldt. Even in times when we were down in today’s game, we still fought hard as a team and didn’t give up, which ultimately helped us win.”
The Broncos played great defense that led Diamond to a total of 31 digs.
Junior middle blocker Ally Wilder continued with great numbers and ended the night with 20 kills.
Freshman outside hitter Jazminn Parrish was behind her with a total of 19 kills.
Freshman opposite side hitter Daisy Duke got on the board with her seven kills to add onto the victory.
Sophomore setter Kira Zimmerman shined in Thursday’s game with a total of 49 assists.
“I felt pretty good tonight,” Zimmerman said.“I always feel that I can do better but I definitely think it was a team effort out there on the court. We are really starting to get our chemistry down. This is only the beginning for our team and I know we can and will do so many great things.”
On Saturday night, the Broncos faced the Sonoma State Seawolves. After four sets, the Broncos fell 1-3 against the Seawolves.
The Broncos are gearing up for two games this week.
The first matchup will be at 7 p.m. on Friday against Univeristy of California, San Diego in La Jolla.
They then will head to Cal State San Marcos at 5 p.m. on Saturday to take on the Cougars.