The women’s volleyball team continued its conference journey back at Kellogg Arena over the weekend.
On Friday night, the Broncos took on the Tritons of UC San Diego for the second time during this season’s conference matches. Two weeks ago, the Broncos swept the Tritons and were determined to do it again.
With their drive to win against the Tritons, especially on their home court, the Broncos took an early lead during the first set. The Broncos were off to a strong start as they dominated the Tritons, 25-13.
As both teams rallied in the second set, the Tritons came out firing with a vengeance. It was the Tritons who took the second set, 25-22.
The third set ended up being just as close as the second set. The Broncos fought as hard as they could but the Tritons had the upper hand and took the win resulting in an identical score of the second set.
In the fourth and deciding set, the Broncos couldn’t find their rhythm and fell short to the Tritons. The ending score was 25-11 and left the Broncos with a 1-3 loss in sets.
Junior middle blocker Ally Wilder led with 12 kills, her third straight match with double-digit kills. Freshman opposite-side hitter Daisy Duke matched her season-high with nine kills. Junior defensive specialist Brynn Sherbert shined once again with 16 digs for the Broncos.
After suffering a loss during Friday night’s game, the Broncos came back to Kellogg Arena to face the Cougars of Cal State San Marcos on Saturday night.
In the first set, the Broncos held a 23-19 lead, but the Cougars fought to score seven of the next eight points and took the set win at 26-24 and take the 1-0 match lead.
The Cougars dominated the second set with an ending score of 25-13. The Broncos were down two sets and needed to get back into the game.
The Broncos didn’t go down without a fight. In the third set, there were six ties and three lead changes between the two teams. As both teams fought for what ended up being the deciding set, the Cougars took the last set 25-20.
The Cougars ended up sweeping the Broncos 3-0.
Freshman outside hitter Jazminn Parrish led the Broncos with 16 kills and one block. Middle blockers Kaitlan Tucker and Wilder both split six kills and three blocks for the night.
Although the Broncos added this loss to their record, junior outside hitter Aofiaolela Faa’agi thought defensive specialist Brynn Sherbert “was one of the biggest assets to (Saturday’s) game.” Faa’agi noted, “Brynn actually moved to the left side instead of middle back and performed really well. She got a lot of our digs and helped us run our offense.”
(Nouk Keovyphone | The Poly Post)
With a couple matches left of conference, head coach Traci Dahl said, “The biggest takeaway from tonight’s game is that we still are learning how to fight. Each set, we’re still learning how to win.”
The Broncos have a young team this season and it’s been a journey to find themselves as a team.
“I see glimpses again of some really good volleyball and then we kind of shy away. I’m sure it’s visually for everyone to see that,” Dahl said. “We’ve got some good packages and some good volleyball that’s happening and then they put pressure on us, we tend to shy away. We’ve got to work on the tight scoring.”
Freshman defensive specialist Dionne Zhao got on the leaderboard with eight digs to keep the Broncos alive during Saturday’s game.
“Towards the end of the night, I started to put down on myself which I shouldn’t but I feel like moving onto our next game we can play better and have more energy and confidence on the court,” Zhao said.
The Broncos are back on the road this week as they rematch against No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Coyotes’ Coussoulis Arena.