The Lady Raiders grabbed a huge win in four sets Wednesday night Nov. 12th facing off with a LA Mission squad that can never be taken for granted.
Moorpark won after dropping a sloppy first set 23-25, but fought back finishing the final sets with scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-20.
The Lady Raiders move to 8-2 in WSC play nearly securing their wildcard seed. The Mission Eagles however drop to 5-5 ending any hopes of a 2014 playoff push.
After a tough first set finish, the Eagles rode the momentum going on top of the Lady Raiders 8-1 early in the set. However, the Lady Raiders climbed back up and won an extremely tight set ending 25-22.
“They played really well and we did not play well” said Head coach Steve Burkhart.
The third set showcased both teams’ persistence and power. After a 6-6 tie, Moorpark destroyed Mission going on a 10-0 run with a dangerous Gangi serving. Gangi racked up seven aces in the game. Mission never said die though and fought back hard.
“We had seven or eight point leads in almost every game” Coach Burkhart added. “And in almost every game we gave it back. That’s not a good sign. Not what [The Lady Raiders] wanna do.”
Mission however fell short and again dropped the set 25-22.
The team shined defensively. Both Outside hitter Mariana Kedzia and Libero Kendall Jacobsen posted 17 digs.
The fourth set was yet again capped off with a hot Mission start going up 1-4. Moorpark then went on two separate 5-0 runs early in the fourth, going up big. The LA Mission squad got back into the game with a spark, thriving on Moorpark mistakes and a huge margin of tipped hits which for the most part the Lady Raiders were not adjusting to.
However a Mariana Kedzia kill would end their spark finishing this game 25-20.
The offense came alive, led by a punishing Kedzia who racked up 19 kills. Kedzia also added 17 digs to her monster game.
“It felt great” Kedzia said “We knew they were gonna keep us on our toes and we had to push through.”
Melissa Brueckner was relentless on the attack and followed in the offense with 17 kills. The win was Brueckner’s fourth game in a row with at least 14 kills.
“We let them catch up quite a few times” Brueckner said “But we ultimately shut them out.”
Brueckner has 12 double digit kill games this season, leading the team.
Freshmen setter Noelle Chodak looked better than ever racking up 50 assists and 10 digs in her fourth start this season. Chodak is getting more and more in sync with the offensive. In Chodak’s last two games she has posted at least 13 more assists than the her previous game.
“I felt good about my play at the end of the match” said Chodak. “I’m glad to have contributed to us winning.”
The Lady Raiders will have their final home game friday Nov. 14th opposing a struggling Cuesta.
With Wednesday’s win for Moorpark eliminating Mission from a playoff berth, Pierce is now the only remaining squad in the hunt with a 6-4 WSC record. Pierce will be hoping for a Cuesta win Friday, in hopes to catch Moorpark. Moorpark shut out Cuesta 3-0 in the previous game at Cuesta.
Pierce and Moorpark face off Wednesday Nov. 19 for both team’s regular season finale. Pierce needs a win streak including knocking off the Lady Raiders to have a shot a WSC playoff run. Moorpark also blanked Pierce 3-0 in the last meeting of the two.
