Tension steadily set in during the remaining beach volleyball doubles competitions, after the Mount San Antonio College Mounties swept through courts one and three early in the match.
With the El Camino College Warriors trailing by two points and with one chance to turn it all around, the Warriors pushed for a win in conference play against the Mounties on the ECC Sand Courts Friday, Feb. 28.
The Mounties led 2-0, but Warriors pair Scheala Nielsen and Maddie Gloria secured a point on court five, keeping the Warriors in reach of the win.
The Warriors displayed sportsmanship as Nielsen and Gloria cruised through two sets, defeating Mounties blocker Kaylin Mendoza and defender Brooklyn Acevedo 21-8, 21-14. Throughout the game, Nielsen and Gloria were energized, cheering each other on, and acknowledging the other team.
“It’s the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated, even if you’re in a super competitive position,” Nielsen said. “I will never put down someone else because I want to be brought up as well.”
After completing three court matches, the Warriors were still in the game, though the Mounties kept the 2-1 lead.
Desperation clouded the sand courts as the Warriors fought to win on courts two and four. Each team’s court was surrounded by teammates, supporting and roaring cheers of motivation and support.
Despite exhaustion setting onto the court, Warriors pair Erica Griffiths and Zoe Lekan, along with Madelyn Hancock and Alyssa Estrada, continued to push themselves and each other.
Warriors sophomore Zariah Honeycutt detailed the strategies used in practices and warmups to build morale within the team and keep their energy up during matches.
“We do cooperative drills, so we make sure that we’re playing together even if we’re playing on opposite sides of the net,” Honeycutt said. “After the game, we’ll come in — win or lose — and we’ll cheer for each other and tell each other we did great jobs.”
The court four Warriors duo Hancock and Estrada fought hard in all three sets. Estrada leapt into action numerous times with split-decision digs and calling “outs” whenever the opposing pair hit the ball out-of-bounds.
However, for the Warriors, an eruption of cheering in the third set on court four from the opposing Mounties defenders Mayah Tiscareno and Eva Becerra confirmed a win for Mt. SAC, taking their lead from 2-1 to 3-1.
The shift was focused on court two, where Warriors duo Griffiths and Lekan scored the final point of the entire match defeating Mounties defenders Itzel Aguayo and Freda Lei 18-21, 21-16, 17-15.
The Mounties defeated the Warriors 3-2.
Mounties blocker Mendoza commends her team’s in-game conditioning strategies to help secure their win.
“Conserving our breath, our energy — just regulating it and not breathing so hard,” Mendoza said. “Slowly walking to catch our breath in those long rallies is also helpful.”
In its second match of the day, the Warriors bounced back and defeated the Cuesta College Cougars 4-1 in non-conference play.
The Warriors will face off next in two conference-play matches at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, Friday, March 7 against the College of the Desert Roadrunners at 10 a.m. and the Long Beach City College Vikings at noon.
