The Moorpark College women’s volleyball team is kind of like a monopoly; they are one team, or entity, that overpowers its competition.
While this might not be economics, they are the monopolistic competition that continues to stiff out its Western State Conference competition, sweeping the Allan Hancock Bulldogs (5-9, 1-5 WSC) in three sets (25-13, 25-18, 25-19) Friday night at Raider Pavilion.
The Raiders (17-1, 7-0 ) extended their winning streak to twelve games after tonight’s victory. During that streak, the Raiders have stifled the competition, dropping only five sets in twelve matches, showing why they are ranked no. 4 in the state.
Despite the sweep, Raiders head coach Steve Burkhart believes the team really needs to focus on their next match, arguably the biggest match of the year, against second-place Santa Barbara City College next Tuesday.
“We have a really tough match ahead of us Tuesday,” he said. “We are trying to stay focused on winning the WSC.”
And for the match ahead of them, Burkhart did not hesitate to express his displeasure with tonight’s performance, believing his team did not play to their potential.
“We were a little out of sync out there,” he said. “If you make mistakes, they are going to beat you.”
The Raiders began the match completely out of sync, giving up consecutive aces, which gave the Bulldogs a quick 2-0 lead.
But whatever the Bulldogs did, the Raiders could do better, and Raider middle blocker Chelcy Westphal added two straight aces herself to tie the set.
The Raiders were up 11-6, but the Bulldogs cut the lead to 12-10. The Raiders made sure the Bulldogs could not spark a comeback, and they sealed the set after a 7-0 run to take a 19-10 lead, and eventually won 25-13.
The second set saw the Raiders take advantage of their offensive firepower, when they took a 10-6 lead, and two straight aces by sophomore Rachel Olinyk extended the lead to 13-6. The Raiders scored two more points to take a 15-6 lead, and were able to take the all-important second set 25-18.
The Bulldogs put up a fight in the third set, taking advantage of another lackluster start for the Raiders on an ace from Tiffany Isel, which gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 advantage. Once again, however, the Raiders woke up and showed who was the better team, tying it up 4-4, before taking the lead 9-7.
A 5-0 run put them up 14-7, but the Bulldogs fought back again cutting the lead three points. The comeback proved to be too little too late, however, and a Sara Justin kill gave the Raiders a 21-17 advantage, and the Raiders completed their third sweep in four matches, winning the set 25-19.
Raiders’ setter Olivia White, who had 31 assists on the night, believed they usually start slow, but are able to bounce back and get into the game.
“We start out slow, and then wake up, and are then focused,” said White.
She did also add the importance for them to get off to a good start against a talented Santa Barbara team.
“We’re going to have to start strong…play together and make less errors,” said White.
