The girls volleyball team pulled out a victory against the Burlingame Panthers in four sets—25-17, 28-26, 18-25, and 25-18—on Tuesday night. Tensions were high for the Bears, who battled through the Panthers’ steady intensity to clinch the win.
M-A set the tone with an immediate ace by junior outside hitter Gabby Lowe, followed by two more points from senior outside hitter Sophie Marks. The Panthers tried to respond, but all attempts were shut down by sharp kills from the Bears.
This serving energy continued throughout the entire first set, with uncontested points from sophomore outside hitter Ingrid Howse and four steady serves by junior libero Bella Schmitz before a Burlingame kill interrupted their streak.
“In the sets that we won, we had really long serving streaks,” junior outside hitter Raya Sial said. “We were pretty scrappy; we got a lot of balls up.”
With the Bears up 16-11, senior defensive specialist Kylie Lam found the cross-court weak spot, capitalizing on the lack of coverage.
The Bears closed out the set 25-17 after a controlled shot from junior middle blocker Emerson Edwards*.
M-A entered the second set aggressively, yet the tide began to turn as Burlingame grew their lead to 7-2. After a big kill by senior middle blocker Addy Moeller, Edwards followed suit, starting to move the momentum back in the Bears’ direction.
Another hit by Edwards brought the difference to one point, with the Bears behind 10-9. The back and forth continued, but the Panthers were ahead for much of the set. The tide began to turn when Sial, right off a substitution, brought two kills for M-A, still trailing 21-17. A few points later, Sial followed up with an ace, further closing the gap.
After a vital block by Howse and junior outside hitter Johanna Key*, the Bears found themselves in the lead for the first time in the set. Marks continued this energy with a kill and an ace to secure the second set 28-26.
In the third set, the Bears had the opportunity to finish the game, but their momentum began to slow. M-A won the first point in a heated back-and-forth rally, but service losses and several close-to-the-line balls caused them to fall behind.
“We need to work on not having dips in the game, staying at a consistent energy, and, no matter if we’re up or down, keeping our energy consistent and having the same intensity,” Sial said.
The Panthers continually executed hits that fell just inside the court, and at set point, Burlingame placed the ball narrowly out of reach of the M-A defense, ending the score at 25-18 for the Panthers.
“The score from the first set to the second was really different. I think we could have been consistent in our energy to keep that score from the first set,” Moeller said. “Then we wouldn’t have lost the third set.”
Entering the fourth set, the Bears knew they needed to follow through to win the game. The Panthers were relentless, claiming the first two points right off the bat. Marks immediately answered with a monster kill.
“We did really well bringing up our energy after tough losses, like getting down a couple points,” sophomore libero Calista Chou said. “We were always able to bring it back up.”
This positive movement was momentary, as M-A lost the next three points to the Panthers. However, Marks quickly led the Bears back in the other direction after reading the block, sending the ball out of the court on a Burlingame touch. Runs steered by the Burlingame offense kept the Panthers in the game, closing the deficit to 15-14.
The Bears went on an eight-point streak featuring notable kills from Sial and Marks to bring them out of their slump and carry them to a significant lead over the Panthers. A crucial ace from Howse gave the Bears further security in this lead.
Tensions rose in the final services as the back-and-forth action persisted. On the game point, the Panthers fumbled the ball into the net on the serve receive, finalizing the score at 28-25. Through many ups and downs, the Bears finished the four-set match victorious.
The Bears will face off against the Aragon Dons away on Thursday at 5:45 p.m.
*Louisa King, Johanna Key, and Emerson Edwards are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.
