The girls volleyball team crushed the Burlingame Panthers 25-20, 25-22, 25-18 on Thursday night.
After having suffered two losses to Burlingame, the Bears went into the game seeking revenge. “We had previously lost to them in five sets so we made sure to work really hard in practice for the past couple of days to be ready to come back,” senior Sienna Morales said.
Feeding off of the crowd’s roaring energy, the Bears built up a sizable lead of 7-2 with a five-point service run from senior libero Kiela King. However, the Bears struggled to pass the ball in serve receive, allowing the Panthers back into the game. “They had really good serve receive and their serves were also very strong which gave us some trouble,” senior Daniela Eline said. The score was now tied 11-11.
With the help of senior Meki Maile’s three service aces, the Bears were able to secure a lead of 17-12. Unrelenting, the Panthers managed to stay afloat in the game with a strong offense. Maile and King countered this offense with multiple incredible defensive plays paired with service pressure from senior Ava Chansari. Pulling ahead, the Bears were able to finish out the set 25-20.
Going into the second set, senior Duru Ruacan and Morales turned on the offensive switch with kill after kill, creating another lead of 7-2. Once again, the Panthers were able to claw their way back into the game with numerous hits, trailing only by 1 point with a score of 14-13.
“Our game plan going into it was to look out for their best hitter, which was number eight,” Morales said. Number eight’s offense proved to be a challenge, allowing Burlingame to gain their first lead of the night at 19-18. In an attempt to save the set, the Bears turned on their jets and battled for every point. After a timeout and some intense back-and-forth plays, the score was left with the Panthers leading 22-21.
Eline decided to take the game into her own hands, getting two back-to-back kills that gave the team the energy to close out the set 25-22.
Kicking off the third set with two consecutive blocks from Eline and Morales and a massive block from Maile, the crowd erupted into cheers. On top of this, strong offense from junior Kayla Greenbaum and another kill from Eline allowed M-A to win a long rally and put the Bears up 13-8. Even though the Panthers continued to stay in the game, it was to no avail. The Bears maintained a sizable lead, finishing the match with a score of 25-18.
“We did pretty well tonight, our offense overall was strong and we were all very locked in,” Maile said.
The Bears will return to the court on Tuesday against the Carlmont Scots at 5:30 p.m.
