Before the volleyball game against American River College began on Oct. 12, Hawks’ sophomore outside hitter Nikita Schenck won over the crowd by singing the National Anthem.
Unfortunately for the home team, this success did not translate onto the court.
ARC won in three sets by scores of 11-25, 23-25 and 15-25. The Hawks continue to struggle, falling to 6-11 this season.
Head coach Minet Gunther said the outcome of the game ultimately came down to execution.
“We’re just not doing it, we’re not hustling enough, going for it enough, kind of having that mental attitude,” Gunther said. “Defense is about effort.”
Within minutes into the first set, the score was tied 4-4.
There were many blocks in the game, specifically from Cosumnes River College’s sophomore middle hitters Hayley Arellano and Domanique Coronado.
“Our two teams are leading the conference in blocks per game, so there was a lot of blocking on both sides,” Gunther said. “They’re very good at it and we’re very good at it.”
But CRC’s blocks weren’t enough to stop ARC from winning the first set 11-25.
The second game brought change for the Hawks.
Schenck and sophomore setter Emmalee Ross made numerous diving attempts to keep the ball in play.
“I thought we played with a lot more heart and didn’t give up,” Arellano said. “We didn’t get down on our mistakes.”
Once the score was 3-10, the home team began a comeback.
Freshman middle hitter Rose Koloamatangi continued to block hits from ARC while Schenck, Coronado and freshman outside hitter Koryn Alvarez all made kills of their own.
With the score tied 20-20, CRC looked to have enough momentum to take a win, but official calls worked against them.
At one point in the game, Hawks’ sophomore setter and team captain Emma Franco asked the referee to name the CRC player who was faulted when a point was given to ARC. The referee responded, “I don’t know.”
“I thought that game two that we should have won. Unfortunately, two really bad calls in the game—very obvious bad calls—dictated the outcome of that,” Gunther said.
The second set ended 23-25.
With the third set came a change of pace.
Arellano and Coronado continued to shut down many hits but the ones that went past them became points for ARC.
“We had a lot of hitting errors and just a lot of unforced errors on our part,” Coronado said.
Although Schenck joined in with the swat team, the Hawks lost 15-25.
“It was a tough loss, but I think we played really well as a team,” Franco said. “We’ll get them next time.”
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