With two away games this past week, the Lancers did not let victory come easy to the Riverside Tigers Wednesday night and put up a respectable fight against the Long Beach Vikings as well on Friday night.
Wednesday’s five-set match between the Tigers and the Lancers was not lost in vain (19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 10-15), as the lancers scored the most kills per game in each game. Freshman outside hitter and star player, Leslie Rivera, had the most kills at 17, with 24 digs and 49 total attacks. Freshman opposite/middle blocker, Abby Martin, followed Rivera with 16 kills, 7 digs, and the most total attacks the entire match at 63.
“I feel like we had a lot of communication and we were really working together very, very well,” Martin said. “Even though we lost, we had this like energy about us, we gave it our all and we tried our best.”
“Neither match really felt like a loss,” head coach Mike Terrill said. “We were doing a good job of controlling what we could and we stayed pretty steady and pretty even. We just competed and we were proud of the way that we played, even though it didn’t go our way.”
In Long Beach Friday night, the Lancers, although working together, could not overpower the Vikings during the four-set match (18-25, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25). The loss affected the Lancers’ overall standing at PCC to 8-11, but did not affect their standing in the North Division Conference, in which they are still in first place 3-1.
Going against the Vikings, who are in the South Division with the same conference standing, the Lancers won game two, but were unable to win the match. Rivera led the team with 43 total attacks and 14 kills, while freshman outside hitter, Janell Currier, aided with 30 total attacks and 9 kills. Freshman setter, Nikki Hernandez, helped her team with 20 assist, the most in the match.
“We were going in as the underdogs because [Long Beach] is the number six team in the state,” Hernandez stated, “We competed really well…we made them work, they changed their rotation like how many times, and like switched out their players because we just kept working them, it felt good working as a team.”
The Lancers are a close-knit team with impressive and solid dynamics, skills, and statistics. Working together seems to come effortlessly and it shows during practices and throughout matches. Even with two recent losses, the team as a whole looks, feels, and continues to play like winners.
“The stuff we’ve done in practice, the adjustments we’re asking our team to make in matches, we’re doing those things.” Terrill added. “When you do those things, and you keep getting better, you hope it goes your way. But you can still be successful even without a win.”
The Lancers have five regular season matches left, with their next match being at home, against LA Harbor Wednesday night, and their next conference game against East Los Angeles College on October 31 at 6:00 p.m. at ELAC.
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