The Bear Cubs volleyball team turned a strong performance on its sophomore night, and last conference home game of the year, dominating Cosumnes River College (CRC) in three sets Nov. 14.
From the onset of the game, it was clear that the Bear Cubs had the upper hand. CRC came out flat from the opening serve, and the Bear Cubs capitalized on each and every one of their mistakes.
The first set started with four straight points from the Bear Cubs. Then they lost a point and scored four more in a row. With a 13-4 lead, CRC called a timeout to strategize. Then the Bear Cubs strung consecutive points together.
The Bear Cubs stood strong, and closed the set out by a resounding 25-10 margin. Kaitlin Ferguson, the head coach of the team, was very impressed by her team’s play tonight,” she said. “It was exactly what I wanted them to do. We talked about coming out and holding strong. We were trying to focus on keeping our errors low and keeping our opponent under 10 [points], and we kept them at 10 in the first set. I was happy that we did the job that I expected us to do.”
In the second set, the Bear Cubs dominated. They ripped off seven consecutive points, and soon held a 13-5 lead. A few rallies led to points for the Hawks, but the Bear Cubs’ consistency and low-error play really put them above their competition for the entirety of the game. The second set ended in another Bear Cub win, giving them a match lead of 2-0, and a chance to close out their final home game with a sweep.
The onset of the third set for the Bear Cubs brought an unfamiliar sight for this match, the Bear Cubs with a deficit. They trailed 2-4, which was ultimately their only deficit of the entire match. They quickly tied the score at 4, and the game was once again tied at 7. With the finish line in sight, the Bear Cubs bore down and put their foot on the gas. From the 7-7 tie, the Bear Cubs extending the lead to 17-8, and took the final set by a score of 25-15.
The win over Cosumnes River pushed the Bear Cubs’ record to 13-10, and is possibly the last home game sophomores Alexis Seda, Rebecca Steiner, Sophia Reoutt and Bryce Gevas could play in their SRJC careers. Regardless of how the rest of the season turns out, these four ladies definitely played their hearts out, and left a positive impression on their coach and the players around them.
“They’ve been awesome,” Ferguson said. “They have been under my leadership the last two years, so they’re my first graduating sophomores. They are very dedicated and have been a really great example of the work ethic it takes to play on the team. Not only during the season but in the offseason as well, and they’ve been really great leaders for the group, and a positive example not only volleyball wise but also in how they need to take care of things, not only on the court, but in their academics as well.”
The Bear Cubs’ last conference game, and last game of the regular season comes against Modesto at 630 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 19. Following that game, round one of the regional playoffs is slated to kick-off at 7 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 25 at a location to be decided by the remaining two games of the schedule for the rest of the teams in the Big 8 conference.
As streaky as this team has been throughout the season, this dominating win could likely be the spark, and confidence booster they needed to send them deep into the playoffs.