The girls volleyball team defeated their close rival, the Aragon Dons, on senior night in four sets on Tuesday: 25-23, 18-25, 25-14, and 25-9.
Before the match started, seniors Tamara Rubinsky, Kylie Winters, Ruby Stone, Jocelyn Chang, Lily Jacobi, and Kayla Greenbaum were honored with flowers. The seniors walked down an aisle of teammates and took photos with their families.
M-A started off slow, with Aragon managing a 2-0 lead. A tactical tip from middle blocker Greenbaum, followed by three straight aces from freshman setter Calista Chou, helped the Bears bounce back and take the lead at 4-2. Intense back and forth play raised the tally to 15-14 with the Bears trailing just behind going into an M-A timeout.
After more fierce competition, libero Winters passed to Chou, who set up junior outside hitter Sophie Marks for a powerful kill, extending their lead to 20-17 in an excellent display of teamwork. Marks continued to land intimidating hits, giving the Bears three additional points. Even so, Aragon was able to come out on top of multiple long rallies, narrowing the gap to 24-22. Refusing to let the set slip from their hands, a monster block by Greenbaum sealed the deal with a score of 25-23.
“I think when the crowd cheered, we really fed off their energy and were able to play better,” Marks said.
M-A began the second set with dwindling energy, allowing Aragon to get ahead by three points, but a series of hits from outside hitter Chang and Marks put the Bears in the lead, 4-3. A few good serves from Aragon, paired with confusion from M-A’s offense, allowed the Dons to pull ahead, 10-8. This trend continued as the Bears found themselves trailing 18-13 due to miscommunication and strong spikes from Aragon. Luckily, a hit by Marks broke the Dons’ streak, and kills by Chang and Marks lessened the gap to 19-18.
After a timeout, the Bears fell further behind, 23-18, despite powerful swings by Marks and sophomore outside hitter Gabriella Lowe. Unfortunately, messy touches from M-A gave the second set to Aragon, 25-18.
This theme continued through the third set, with M-A and Aragon quickly trading points. An eventful rally left the score 4-3 Bears, and junior opposite hitter Louisa King* left Aragon shocked after two intimidating spikes brought the score to 9-4, M-A. Even though the Dons managed to win two more points, the Bears stayed relentless and immediately bounced back to settle the tally at 12-6.
Greenbaum came in with hits that perfectly avoided Aragon’s defense, leaving them unable to recover from M-A’s eight-point, 19-11 lead. Multiple mistakes from the Dons’ offense, combined with dominating finishes by Marks, brought the game to set point. Right off the final serve, King and Greenbaum ran up for a stuff block and won M-A the third set, 25-14.
“I think we’re really positive. And we adjusted well to what our coaches were saying when we made errors,” Winters said.
The Bears came out firing in the fourth set with intense serves from Chou and Chang. Numerous aces gave the Bears a confident 5-1 lead. Blocks from Greenbaum and opposite hitter Stone, paired with spikes from Marks, furthered the Bears’ lead to 9-1. Consistent sets by Chou and hits by Marks kept the Bears ahead 11-5, with little attacking success from the Dons.
The Bears continued to dominate offensively, with their lethal serves bringing the score to 16-8 in favor of M-A. Five more aces in a row from Chou earned the Bears a 23-9 lead. Greenbaum closed out the game with a monster block, sealing the win 25-9.
“We were all working towards the same goal, and we really trusted each other with doing our own respective jobs. We just worked really well together,” Marks said.
“I’m glad that we were able to pull out a good win for our senior night, and it’s just a great way to finish off the last home game of the season,” Chang said.
The Bears will face off against the Half Moon Bay Cougars for their last game of the season on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
*Louisa King is a journalist for the M-A Chronicle.
