The Lady Raiders won in four sets during their final game of the 2015 season against the Cuesta College Cougars on Wednesday.
Moorpark has now closed out the year with an 8-14 record and 4-8 in conference. They saved their best game for last, playing some of their best volleyball of the season.
Freshman Cindy Norris, who had four spikes and 13 kills and gave her team a total of 16.5 points, wanted to send the sophomores off with a victory.
“I’m really excited that we got the win,” said Norris. “I think we all played for the sophomores and sent them off with a winning game.”
Sophomores Cassidy Simental, Alyssa Wilson and Sierra Joyner played their final game for Moorpark in the Raider Pavilion.
Simental had four spikes and a kill, Wilson had four spikes and three kills for a total of eight points and Joyner was able to get four spikes and 23 digs.
For at least one of the three women, it was their final volleyball game ever. Wilson, who has played volleyball since she was in sixth grade, will not continue her volleyball career as she transfers to a four-year next fall.
“It’s really emotional when you spend so much time and dedicate so much time and energy to one thing,” said Wilson. “The reality hasn’t really set in, but I’m really happy we won.”
Wilson’s fellow teammate Joyner hopes that this will not be her final volleyball game. She currently is waiting to hear back from several schools on whether or not she can play there.
“I at least had a lot of nerves at the beginning of the game,” said Joyner. “Right now, I’ve applied to Sac State [Sacramento State] and Cal State Dominguez Hills, so that’s the plan to keep playing.”
Assistant Coach Aaron Hedland was extremely satisfied with the team’s victory, considering Cuesta had defeated them in such a close match-up a little over a month ago.
“I’m pretty dang happy,” said Hedland. “Especially to beat them [Cuesta] and play much better this time around.”
As the Lady Raiders close out 2015, they will look ahead to 2016. The team will have many returning players who will be back next year, including play-makers Cindy Norris and Meghan Conlan.
“We’ll have a lot of freshman coming back, the most in the program we’ve had in a long time,” said Hedland. “We have our eyes on the future, and we’re looking bright.”
