Despite the win last Thursday against Santa Barbara City, 3-1, the Warriors failed to qualify for the playoffs and ended a season of underachievement.
With a score of 25-30, 30-26, 30-18, 30-24, the one loss proved costly as the team lost a tiebreaker because of it.
“Our records were tied so we had to win in three to have the match lead for the tiebreaker but because we tied in four, it was based on conference record against the top seeds,” Rikki Garma, team captain, said. “I tried not to put too much pressure on it and have everyone think about it; I just tried to have fun.”
The game ended a very good campaign that had an improvement over last year with a record of 11-6 but had many moments of inconsistency at home and careless mistakes.
“We needed to defend our home court and we had two matches that we had in the bag but we let those teams off the hook,” coach Richard Blount said.
Garma led the team and the conference in digs with 242. Kevin Downing led the team with 58 blocks and 251 kills. Daniel Rodrick led the team in assists with 713. Corey Palmer led the team with 259 serves.
This year’s squad had many expectations to win the conference.
The team had enough talent but underachieved due to the addition of new players during the year and the lack of urgency and mental toughness during some games.
“We definitely underachieved, and I know we could have done better, but we’re still a legitimate top team in the state,” Garma said. “It didn’t show in our record, but things happen.”
The sophomores who are leaving include Rikki Garma, team captain; Rick Browning, middle blocker; Kevin Downing, outside hitter; Randal Maryott, middle blocker and Landen Tusieseina, outside hitter.
“Next year, we’re going to lose a lot of athletes on offense and defense,” Garma said. “You lose a lot of stats, so next year’s team is going to have to step up.”
Ending the season on a down note, the team can reflect on how much it has grown as a group and as individuals during what turned out to be a tough campaign.
“We didn’t point fingers at the end, and we played as a team rather than individuals,” Rick Browning said. “We had extreme potential, but we didn’t execute it like we needed to, but we showed other teams that EC is not an underdog, but is a force to be reckoned with.”
