Moorpark College took on Cuesta College last Friday at 4pm at the Moorpark College gymnasium.
The Moorpark Raiders were in control throughout the match. They wasted no time beating the Cuesta Cougars three games to zero with a lead of at least seven points in all three games. The winning combination of versatile digs and powerful kills were too much for the Cougars to handle.
In Game One, Carly Morlan, a sophomore setter, had a crucial ace at 15-11 to keep momentum on Moorpark’s side. They pulled away with excellent serving from Miranda Poole, their sophomore outside hitter, and a quick shuffle save by Janis Serrano-Garces on the left side to reach 23-15.
Cuesta fought back by getting the next three points but were in too big of a hole to climb out of. Moorpark took game one 25-18.
In Game Two, Poole had a dominant kill at 2-1. She was bringing the heat, putting extra power behind it. Morlan dug and Poole killed again to get another Raider point. The connection between the two ladies has led to many points this season.
“Biggest [reason] is trust,” Poole said. “Just knowing our setter will give us a perfect set like almost every time.”
Moorpark started distancing themselves taking the lead at 12-7. At point 13, Sophia Rapmund, a sophomore defensive specialist, had an amazing save to keep it alive and Morlan finished off the point with a spike. Next point, the same story continued with a save by Dañel Schilder, a sophomore libero, and a quick turnaround smash by Poole.
Schilder had some extravagant low diving saves keeping many points alive, but she could care less how stylish she looked.
“For me, even though I get a great up or dive for it, I still need to make sure it’s in play, its high enough for our next person to play the ball,” Schilder said. “Just keeping it alive and making it a better contact than what it was before.”
Schilder closed out Cuesta’s hopes of coming back by serving two aces and getting four points during her service at 22-11. They finished off the Cougars and took game two.
Moorpark started game three strong with back-to-back kills from Emily Katz, a sophomore middle hitter, and Poole who brought down the hammer to extend Moorpark’s lead to 5-0.
The momentum quickly swung back to Cuesta as the Cougars rallied and scored the next six points.
Raiders then gave up a net violation when attempting to block a Cougar spike and the lead extended to 7-5. After an unlucky call out of bounds at 8-5, Raiders’ head coach called a time-out to recompose his players.
In those crucial moments of momentum swing, Katz mentally shakes it off, forgetting that the last play even happened.
“There’s nothing that you can do, you just got to move on to the next point,” Katz said. “It goes back to trust, that we’re gonna get the job done.”
Poole contributed on the next two points with an attack and coverage on a block to bring the Raiders closer at 7-9. A defensive stop, good service, dig and setup by Morlan tied the game at 10 a piece.
Poole created a little separation with her serve and Moorpark took back the lead at 12-11. Cuesta smashed to get back into it, but another diving save by Schilder, and a returning smash of her own by Serrano-Garces forced Cuesta to call a timeout at 15-11.
Serrano-Garces attributed the all-around team play for the success in those moments.
“Always trusting your teammates that they’re gonna help,” Serrano-Garces said. “We have other teammates to step in. We trust that they’ll get there every time.”
The Cuesta Cougars never regained momentum after their timeout. Moorpark Raiders finished the game strong with an ace, winning their third straight game and the match, 25-17.
