Watch out No. 1 Cabrillo College, here come the newly ranked No. 3 Warriors.
With the women’s volleyball team’s six game winning streak on the line, Katie Cole, middle, came up huge, providing the spark needed to defeat Mt. San Antonio College 25-15, 25-16, 25-20 last Friday.
“I have a lot of fun playing for this team,” Cole said, leading the team with 14 kills and three blocks. “It is such a fun and nice group of women; winning makes it that much better.”
Coming off a sweep of L.A. Harbor College last Wednesday, it took four sets to take down the Mounties; not perfect, but good enough for the seventh straight victory.
“A win is a win,” Ashleigh Gideon, outside hitter, said. “This wasn’t close to our best performance. It’s a stepping stone to one of our goals: conference champs.”
The Warriors (14-2) will look for their sixth straight conference victory at home against L.A. Trade Tech tomorrow at 6 p.m.
“It feels amazing,” Donella DiDomenico, outside hitter, said of being ranked No. 3 in the State Community College Women’s Volleyball Top 25. “We have been working harder and harder as the season moves along, but this ranking means nothing until we get to state.”
Following Cole, Kaye Lani Tanuvasa, setter, and Kaitlyn Edwards, outside hitter, each contributed 12 kills apiece against the Mounties.
“Katie really stepped up when Mt. SAC was giving us a really hard time,” Edwards said.
The victory wasn’t the usual dose of dominance for the Warriors, who have swept their last four opponents.
DiDomenico said maintaining their momentum has been the issue.
“This victory wasn’t the best we ever played,” DiDomenico said. “We need to be more consistent with our hitting and not get frustrated after little mistakes.”
Each day, LeValley Pattison, coach, said the team continues to get better and better and the new ranking proves it.
“The team is working very hard and enjoying learning new things every day,” Pattison said.
Having a team with only three sophomores, Sarah McFadden, setter, said the freshmen have done well filling in and performing at a high level.
“Knowing that this team is expected to win is stressful at some points,” McFadden said. “But it’s good because it’s a challenge and it pushes me to become a better player on the court.”