The Cosumnes River College volleyball team fought to the finish on Oct. 26 against the San Joaquin Delta College Mustangs, but it was not enough.
Delta won in three sets by scores of 18-25, 16-25 and 16-25. With another loss, the Hawks fall to 6-14 this season.
“I thought we played well at times, but we were inconsistent in our serve, receive, passing and defense,” Hawks’ head coach Minet Gunther said.
Within minutes, the first set saw a tie between the Hawks and Mustangs at 3-3.
CRC stayed not far behind thereafter with a score of 7-8.However, Delta soon secured a decisive lead.
“As a team we have a lot of heart,” said Hawks’ sophomore setter Emma Franco. “We’re good individually, we just need to play as a team.”
Strong, consistent serves by Hawks’ sophomore middle hitter Hayley Arellano helped earn CRC four kills in a row, bringing the score to 13-19. Arellano continues to shine for the Hawks, earning a total of 146 kills and 32 blocks this season.
“Our strength this year has definitely been our play at the net, hitting and blocking,” Gunther said. “We are leading the Big 8 in blocks per game and have several players in the top 10 hitting percentage.”
However, the first set still ended with a Mustang win by a score of 18-25.
The Mustangs continued to dominate, earning the first kill in the second set.
Hawks’ sophomore outside hitters Nikita Schenck and Koryn Alvarez helped keep the score tied 5-5 and 6-6 with their own kills.
A strong serve and dive from Hawks’ sophomore setter Emmalee Ross earned the Hawks a small lead at 7-6.
The Hawks kept themselves neck-in-neck with the Mustangs with several key blocks, and tied the set 10-10.
“I’m really proud of our front row, they got a lot of good blocks in tonight,” Hawks’ sophomore libero Natasha Malana said. Malana is third in the Big 8 in successful digs, averaging 5.09 per game.
However, it was not enough to stop Delta from winning the second set 16-25.
In the final set, a long rally kept both teams on their toes until the Hawks finally made the kill, bringing the score to 9-14.
Seconds later, a strong block and hit by CRC produced two more kills and brought the score to 11-14.
The last set still got away from the Hawks with a repeating score of 16-25.
“We need to stay together as a team and push harder from beginning to end,” Malana said.
The match was also CRC’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness night. The Hawks, several audience members and the gym were decked out in pink. More than $500 was raised in support of the cause.
The last four matches of the season will be against the competitve Big 8, marking a difficult road for the struggling team. The Hawks will look to turn it around when they play their last home game against Diablo Valley College on Nov. 11.
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