Friday’s beach volleyball doubles competitions were a rather routine victory for the El Camino College Warriors as they faced the Cerritos College Falcons on March 28.
Warriors coach April Ross said that ECC’s practices have advanced as the year has gone on, resulting in wins like these.
“We have been working really hard on specific things in practice that I think can help us win matches,” Ross said. “Like for the beginning of the season, we were working on a lot of general technique, and the last couple weeks it’s been like, ‘okay this serve, this serve’ would be really effective to get us some aces.”
Cerritos set the tone by quickly winning back-to-back sets by a wide margin on Court 2 (21-7, 21-9), giving the Falcons the early 1-0 lead.
Ross said that the Warriors have been working on how to approach matches with a positive attitude and confidence.
This focus seemed to be beneficial as the competition went on.
After the initial loss, the Warriors would not trail for the rest of the competition, winning three straight matches and putting them in winning formation.
On courts 5 and 3, each set was close, but on Court 1,the tandem of Scheala Nielsen and Tate Mercer won their two sets comfortably to give ECC the 3-1 lead.
The competition resulted in the Warriors winning 3-2.
Despite Madelyn Hancock and Alyssa Estrada losing a close battle in the last match of the competition (21-18, 21-19), they were optimistic about their team’s performance as a whole.
“I think like throughout the season, our communication is our biggest strength,” Estrada said. “It was very rough in the start, but we’ve been practicing, whether it’s just cheering for the points, even if we did get the point or not. Just cheering for everything.”
Hancock said she feels confident going into matches because of the effort that her teammates put into the game as a unit.
“Honestly, just straight love for my teammates, because it’s like I know that they are always trying their best,” Hancock said. “So I know the chance of us winning as a team is pretty high, so I just put my faith in them, and they put their faith in me.”
Ross said that for the Warriors to build on this latest victory, they need to stay poised and focused for their next match.
“We don’t get complacent, so we enjoy it, it was a big win for us, you know,” Ross said. “And then on Monday, we get back to reality, and we’re back focused on what we need to do to get better.”
Warriors move to (9-9) on the season while the Falcons fall to (13-6).
The Warriors will play their next game at home against the Long Beach City College Vikings (10-8) at 10 a.m. Friday, April 4 on the ECC Sand Courts.
