SMC women can't stop Pierce

The Santa Monica College women’s volleyball team looked to hand Pierce College their first loss of the season this past Wednesday at the Corsair Pavilion but the Corsairs’ all-freshman line up was not able to match-up against Pierce, and Pierce won in straight sets, 25-12, 25-20, and 25-14. With the win, Pierce has now gone nine straight matches without losing a set.

They currently sit atop the Western State Conference with an overall record of 18-0 and 3-0 record in conference play. The Corsairs now drop to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

The first set started off close, as the Corsairs battled back and forth with the Brahma Bulls, exchanging points early.

Freshman Catie Roberts ended one of the long rallies with a spike, which pulled the Corsairs back to a 5-4 deficit, but this was the closest they would get the entire match.

After a quick rally, Pierce pulled away to take a 10-5 lead, forcing Corsair head coach, Nicole Ryan, to call a timeout.

“As a coach you want to break the other teams momentum, the other part of it is to give the girls some strategies and get them refocused on what they need to do,” said Ryan.

This would be a theme throughout the game as Ryan used every possible timeout she had to help her team get back on track.

Ryan would call another timeout later in the first game to again try and slow Pierce’s momentum, but it would have no effect.

Pierce controlled the first set, winning 25-12.

Pierce picked off where they left off in the second set, going up 7-2 early on.

Ryan was forced to take another timeout, but this time it was more effective.

The Corsairs trailed 13-10 and found themselves in striking distance.

Yet the Brahma Bulls never looked phased and again went on a rally, this time pulling away for the rest of the game.

Pierce would take their second straight sets by a score of 25-20.

Heading into the third set,Ryan was concerned with keeping her girls focused and concentrated to avoid a three set sweep.

“We didn’t really focus on being down 0-2, were thinking about what we needed to do to get back into this game,” said Ryan.

In the end, the Bulls proved to be too tough. Pierce again reached double-digits before the Corsairs could, something they did in all three sets.

Down 16-7, Ryan took SMC’s final timeout, in attempt to give her team a breather and slow the game down. This deemed to be a little too late though as Pierce had controlled the match from the start, and would go on winning the third and final set, 25-14.

Even with a line-up full of freshman, Ryan believes her team will be able to recover and rebound for their next conference game.

“They’re still learning a lot, some of our girls who are playing are really raw and that sometimes comes out in pressure situations,” said Ryan.

The Lady Corsairs next will host Citrus College at SMC on Wednesday Oct. 19.