In the last two weeks there has been a personal vendetta waged by the El Camino women’s volleyball team.

The Warriors once again avenged one of their losses from earlier in the season by defeating Bakersfield College 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-16) at EC this past Tuesday in the opening round of the CCCAA Playoffs.

“We have matured so much as a team,” sophomore setter SueKalena Tafao said. “As far our IQ of the game, effort and energy. We’ve all-around matured.”

The last time these two teams faced each other was back in September during the San Diego Invitational. A match which Bakersfield won in five sets.

That was a much different Warriors team from the one now and they were intent on not repeating the same mistakes from last match.

“The first time we played them was at a tournament. It had been a long day and we weren’t really ourselves,” freshman outside hitter Laynie Thompson said. “Tonight, we knew this was our chance for revenge.”

How it happened: Defense. The Warriors registered a staggering total of 97 digs amongst the team.
Freshman outside hitter Darlene Lee led the team with an incredible 29 digs followed by sophomore outside hitter Ashley Morimoto who had 16 and freshman defensive specialist Courtney Eppler with 14. Freshman setter Sadie Fraker also added 13 digs along with 12 from Tafao.
On the offensive side, the Warriors’ bigs played a huge role (no pun intended) in controlling the net and the tempo of the game. Tafao once again led the charge with 15 kills along with 12 from freshman middle blocker Kimberly Haney and 10 from Thompson, who perhaps had her greatest game of the season.
The duo of Haney and Thompson proved to be too much for the Renegades. Constantly being blocked or scored upon by the Warriors’ bigs.
Both teams were fired up to start and played evenly until the Warriors opened up the first set with a 9-2 run which led to a 25-20 victory.
The Renegades answered back in the second set by taking an 18-12 lead. The Warriors would not be able to climb back as they dropped the second set 18-25.
With a 1-1 tie, this set up a crucial third set. Neither side was willing to give an inch and both teams played to a 23-23 tie before Tafao shut the door with two well placed kills to win the set 25-23.
The Warriors would not allow the momentum to shift back as they closed the door on the Renegade’s season with a decisive 25-16 victory in the final set.

What it means: The No. 6 seeded Warriors will advance to the second round of the CCCAA Playoffs where they will hit the road to face No. 3 seeded Golden West College this Saturday at 6 p.m. Golden West advanced by sweeping Chaffey College in the first round 3-0.
This will by far be the toughest team the Warriors have faced all season and will have to play at the top of their game in order to pull off the upset.