The Santa Rosa Junior College’s women’s volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of Sacramento City College at home on Nov. 1.
Going into the match, the Bear Cubs looked to build on a sweep at Folsom Lake following a poor run of form. The Panthers, on the other hand, looked to extend their winning streak, having swept Modesto on Oct. 30.
The Bear Cubs took an early advantage in the opening set when middle/opposite Kiana Walker scored Santa Rosa’s first point of the night, poking the ball over the net.
The Panthers found their rhythm and the set temporarily turned into a back and forth match, before the Bear Cubs regained control.
With the team defending from the front, blocks made by Lily Comma, Katie Brenninger and Madison Shaw, paired with their offensive prowess, SRJC won the first set, 25-18.
Comma kept up the momentum for the Bear Cubs, scoring to open the second set. Multiple scrappy rallies disoriented the Bear Cubs and allowed the Panthers to get a foothold in the set. Powerful spikes from Sacramento City blasted past the Bear Cubs on occasion. As the set progressed, SRJC faltered, and the Panthers fought back to tie the set.
Strong blocks from Santa Rosa kept them in contention to win the set, but despite a valiant effort, the highly contested set ended in a 27-25 win for Sacramento City to tie the game at 1-1.
Similar to the previous sets, a strong start from SRJC saw Comma tip the ball over the net to open the scoring and a net violation from a Brenninger spike give the Bear Cubs an early advantage.
SRJC appeared well on their way to a 2-1 lead, before Sacramento City battled back. Service errors, powerful spikes from the Panthers and some unlucky misses saw Sacramento City edge the set 25-21 to take the 2-1 lead.
The Bear Cubs appeared to run out of steam in the final set, quickly going down 0-7. The Panthers dominated the tired Bear Cubs and ran away with a 25-13 set win to take the match3-1.
“I feel like tonight we played amazing and we did great things, but towards the end of the second and third set we kinda took our foot off the gas pedal and Sac City is not a team that will just go away,” Walker said. “I do believe that we have made great improvement just over the last week and I am very proud of how my team performed today, but we definitely still have a lot to work on.”
Head coach Ally Sather was optimistic about the Bear Cubs’ performance..
“Tough conference game,” Sather said. “This is a classic big eight matchup where everybody in our conference is really competitive and we are very close. So we were playing right there with them all night. We’re showing some good growth and improvement through our season. This is a great group of girls. They’re really supportive. They’re really positive. They get along really well; they’ve been really fun to coach. It’s a fun, goofy group of girls that I’ve really enjoyed spending time with and getting to see them kind of grow and improve throughout the season.”
The Bear Cubs will be back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at home against American River.
