Despite a slow start, the Moorpark Raiders quickly turned the match into a thrashing as they swept the Glendale College Vaqueros (25-15, 25-15, 25-17).
The match started very slowly for the Raiders, as they found themselves down 9-5 in the first set.
Accuracy was the main culprit in the Raiders’ early struggles; there were several would-be scores simply sailing out of bounds.
However, it was the Raiders’ defense at the net that sparked their comeback. Freshman outside hitter Kasey Ullery led the charge during the comeback with three kills and great defense at the net. After retaking the lead at 10-9, the Raiders never looked back as they steamrolled ahead for a 25-15 victory.
The second set would be much less ambiguous early, as the Raiders would take a 5-1 lead and never need to look back. The Raiders made it look easy as they dominated the net behind sophomore outside hitter Una Siljegovic’s aggressive.
The Raiders were able to tighten up their accuracy issues from the first set as they put on a show of precision hitting. At 22-15 the set was in hand when sophomore middle blocker Rachel Olinyk added insult to injury with three straight aces to close out the second set 25-15.
The third set would also see very few bumps in the road for the Raiders as they continued their strong offensive and defensive play at the net. Though the Raiders trailed early in the third set, the defense got back to its aggressive style of play that helped them dominate the final set.
Sophomore middle blocker Kaki Bage helped to tighten the screws up front as she began blocking shots and getting in some of her own as well.
Bage pointed out the team’s focus on defense on practice as a main reason they were able to come out on top tonight.
“[We have] been doing a lot of work on defense,” she said.
A 25-17 victory in the third set completed the Raiders’ sweep of the Glendale Vaqueros.
The victory was possible in large part because of the Raiders aggressive play at the net as well as simply physically overpowering their opponent by being quicker to the ball and hitting with much more power.
