Standing in fifth place in the El Camino league with a record of 2-2 before playing against league-leading Cupertino (3-1), the girls’ varsity volleyball team played hard but fell short in a home game on Sept. 25.
In the first set, the Falcons scored the first point after junior middle Aanya Hotha blocked an attempted spike from the Pioneers. The two teams then alternated points until the Pioneers led 11-10. The Falcons quickly tied it 11-11 after Hotha hit a strong spike down the middle. Shortly after, the Pioneers pulled ahead once again, leading 18-15 before the Falcons called a timeout. The reset helped them to slowly catch up 19-19, but the Falcons struggled with communication and lost the first set 25-21.
The Falcons started off strong at the start of the second set, quickly taking a lead of 8-3. The Pioneers took a timeout to break the momentum and worked to tie the score at 11-11. However, the Falcons held strong and gained the lead again when freshman outside Siena Baldwin blocked an attempted spike from the Pioneers.
A spike by junior setter Iris Jin gave the Falcon a 5-point lead at 21-16. The Falcons went on to win the second set 25-19.
At the start of the third set, the Falcons fell behind 7-1, forcing Falcons coach Lori Gragnola to call a timeout. This wasn’t enough to stop the Pioneers, who continued to push their lead to 15-2. Slowly, however, the Falcons closed the gap, bringing the score to 17-14 after sophomore outside Chloe Zeng spiked a ball that was set by sophomore setter Sophia Wei.
As the Falcons scored point after point, the Pioneers decided to call timeout, but the Falcons came back stronger; the two teams went back and forth, fighting for every point until the score reached 23-22 with the Pioneers still in the lead, causing the Falcons to call timeout again. However, the Pioneers held their ground and ended the third set by winning 25-22.
The two teams started off the fourth set alternating points, tying the score 4-4 until the Pioneers scored four points in a row. The Falcons struggled to close the gap as the Pioneers led 16-10. When the score reached 20-11, the Falcons called yet another timeout to give themselves time to reset and focus on the remainder of the set.
Despite the Falcons’ efforts, the Pioneers widened their lead to bring the score to 22-14. The fourth set ended in a 25-15 win for Pioneers, with the final score being a 3-1 win for Cupertino.
“Communication is really important and we need to have a mindset that focuses on what to improve on instead of our mistakes,” junior libero Morgan Li said. “When we’re able to start focusing on what we want to do, our communication improves and we’re able to get our momentum up which changes the mood a lot.”
The Falcons will next play Gunn High in an away game on Sept. 30, before playing at home against Santa Clara on Oct. 2.
