Two-straight losses, not to mention both losses were winnable matches.
The El Camino beach volleyball team sank in the conference standings after last week’s defeat at the hands of MiraCosta College and Long Beach City College.
On Friday, the Warriors propelled themselves above everyone else (minus Grossmont and the two aforementioned) by disparaging the San Diego Mesa and San Diego Palomar college teams with back-to-back wins.
EC improved to 11-3 after a 3-2 and 5-0 win respectively against the visiting SD teams.
“We refocused everything,” sophomore Taylor Brydon said.
Brydon and partner sophomore Brooklyn Rubio had not lost a single match, let alone a single set, all season until back-to-back losses last week.
“It’s just we were playing like our normal selves today,” Brydon added. “During the MiraCosta/Long Beach game it was one frustration after another, but today we didn’t let anything affect us.”
The Warriors top pair of sophomores Michelle Shimamoto and Micah Hammond struggled, considering they showed a lot of growth after last week’s 1-1 day.
The top pair took the first set against Mesa’s top pair, only to lose in the second and third set.
Shimamoto and Hammond would go on to beat Palomar’s top team in three sets.
“I need to take advantage of having such an experienced partner (in Michelle),” Hammond said. “But Michelle and I haven’t played the best we can, yet. We can play a lot better. (Especially me) because when I make mistakes I kind of get in my head about it.”
While the No. 3 pair of sophomore Victoria Curtice and freshman Megan Lim happen to be having such a tumultuous season under their belt.
They shine at their spot on the rankings, but continue to struggle in consistency throughout matches.
Curtice was diagnosed by the athletic trainer Joy who said that she has bicep tendonitis, which is an inflammatory disease that in general causes pain in the bicep area.
“We’ve been focusing on that (consistency),” Curtice said, after beating both Mesa and Palomar’s No. 3 team. “I’ve been going to the trainer everyday and it’s probably due to overwork. During the game I worked in some shots.”
