Image courtesy of Patrick Lam.
The girls’ volleyball team crushed the Menlo Knights in straight sets, 25-18, 25-18, 25-16, on Tuesday night. This game concludes the preseason, with the Bears walking into the league season with confidence.
The first set started with multiple long rallies, but the Knights were unable to attack with the 6-foot senior Sienna Morales defending their side. The Bears’ defense and skilled offense allowed them to pull ahead 7-3.
“I think we had really good energy and communication on the court today,” senior libero Kiela King said.
Even though Menlo started slow, they did not let M-A take control of the set. The Knights started to find holes in the Bears’ defense, allowing them to even the score 8-8.
However, with kills from Morales and junior Jocelyn Chang, the Bears were able to retaliate. Their defense was just as strong, pulling them ahead 17-12. Senior Daniela Eline was in the perfect corner spot, allowing her to add two more kills to the score. The Knights could not take the pressure from the Bears and were unable to hit the ball over the net, concluding the first set 25-18.
The second set kicked off strong with two aces by King and a kill by senior Sarah Littlefield, setting the tone for the rest of the set.
Morales continued this momentum, hitting three kills in a row. The Bears were up 13-5, and the Knights were unable to get through M-A’s wall-like defense. But the Bears started to feel too comfortable. Menlo was soon able to set their eyes on M-A’s lead, trailing behind at 14-9.
“We started to do better when we started playing as a team, and when we adjusted to the other team’s style around the second set,” Morales said.
M-A was able to regain their focus, ending the set 25-18.
The third set started just as dominant as the second with an ace from senior Ava Chansari and kills from Littlefield, Morales, and Eline. Even though the Knights were scrambling to defend their side of the court, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Bears’ indestructible offense.
The Bears were up with an early lead of 5-2, but once again struggled to maintain their focus. After an increase in mistakes, the Knights pulled ahead 7-8.
Both teams were feeling tense and struggling to get a comfortable gap. After numerous head-to-head battles, M-A was barely leading 13-12.
Menlo was not able to keep up with the Bears. After a missed serve by the Knights, M-A regained control of their offense and dominated the court for the rest of the game. The Knights could feel the Bears closing in and continued to miss the court. Senior Meghan Lam served an ace, making it a match point for M-A. A swift kill by senior Duru Ruacan concluded the game 25-16.
“I think the team did well, there was a lot of hustle. We communicated well which was really important for us to win the game, and it helped us close the game quickly,” Chang said.
The Bears will compete in the Bay Area Classic tournament this Saturday.
