Five sets filled to the brim with kill blocks, setter dumps, and pipeline spikes caused the Patterson Gymnasium to erupt in Wednesday’s game against the LA Harbor Seahawks. After the close and well fought sets, the Lancers unfortunately lost against the powerhouse team. Both squads showed solid offensive and defensive power, and proved to be a slugfest from start to finish.
The first set consisted of a fair amount of points coming from misplays of both teams. A good percentage of the points came from serves that were out and the ball touching the net.
Once the rallies began, they didn’t stop. In two back-to back rallies both teams scored and looked exhausted. Both liberos, the ones responsible for the most receives and general defense showed amazing skill, refusing to let the ball touch their turf. Despite this the Lancers’ defense was shattered by the Seahawks cannon, Rohyn Huss (#33).
“Number 33 was their strongest and they fed her a lot of balls,” said Libero Saku Yoshioka.
On top of the Seahawks impressive left canon, their main artillery came from their serves according to PCC’s head coach Mike Terrill. These devilish serves were showcased by the Seahawks libero Nicolette Pamiroyan. Her serve fell perfectly in the middle of the court breaking the Lancers formation resulting in a score.
“LA Harbor deserves a lot of credit,” said Terrill. “They’re the toughest serving group we’ve played. They seemed a lot more in system.”
The first set finished with a score of 23-25 favoring the Seahawks.
Kaitlyn Karsten (4, White) of PCC spikes the bal between Jocelyn Lacroix and Ginia Goods of ECCduring the Lancers 3-0 loss to El Camino College at home on Friday, November 1, 2019.
The second set then took off with momentum for the Lancers, as opposite hitter Kaitlyn Karsten and middle blocker Paulina Lopez completely stuffed the Seahawks first spike with a kill block. Shortly after a sea of decoys jumped, Karsten came in for a kill as she slammed the ball straight in the Seahawks side of the court. This momentum was soon ended by a familiar weapon, the serve.
Harbor’s Sara Peterson showed the Lancers how powerful this weapon can be by scoring three consecutive service aces in a row, one of them completely untouched.
PCC’s Erykah Wilson brought the momentum back to the Lancers with her solid abilities in both defense and offense. Deflecting a hit off a double block, an untouched service ace, and consistent receives Wilson brought the Lancers into the deuce at the end of the set that ended in the Seahawks favor (24-26).
With their backs to the wall, PCC refused to back down in the third set as they showcased a dominant performance. With an insane amount of early pressure the Lancers quickly racked up eight kills causing the Seahawks to take an early time out. This break did not shatter the Lancers’ focus at all. As the match resumed, Wilson greeted the Seahawks by breaking clean through a double block. The aggression of the third set ended as Lopez crushed the ball straight down ending the set 25-18 in the Lancers favor.
The fourth set came and went in the blink of an eye, both teams got even more aggressive. The Lancers hated being blocked and they showed it, Lopez then caused a Seahawk time out at set point as she crushed their block with a thunderous spike. Lopez explained that as a middle blocker being blocked is ironically the most annoying thing.
“Getting blocked sucks because you’re going H.A.M, and then it’s like what the fuck,” said Lopez.
Grace Crawford of PCC sets the ball during the Lancers 3-0 loss to El Camino College at home on Friday, November 1, 2019.
Wilson did not bat an eye at Harbor’s blocks. Deflecting three kills, the middle blockers showed pure tenacity wrapping up the set with a dominant Lancer victory of 25-17.
The fifth set ended as quickly as it began; the thunderous roars from both teams turned into a cool silence. The fifth set went faster than the fourth as Huss turned her game up a notch. The Seahawks’ cannon came out blazing and applied pressure heavily throughout the final set. Ending the set 9-15, the Lancers’ loss was painful but a valuable learning experience.
Defeat unfortunately followed the Lancers into their Friday game against El Camino as they lost three straight sets.
“We did not compete to the standards we expect from ourselves. That dominoed into us giving up big strings of points.” said Terrill.
The Lancers hope to change it up in their next game against Cerritos on Wednesday Nov. 6th at 6 p.m. at PCC.
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