Girls’ volleyball team strives to play when it counts

After a month of preseason games, the girls’ volleyball players have refined their skills and teamwork. However, players say they have yet to learn how to perform to the best of their abilities when it matters.

“I think that sometimes our team gets ahead of themselves when we are ahead, and we start to lose the intensity needed to win games,” junior outside hitter Tivoli Sisco said.

In a match against The Kings Academy at the Cupertino tournament on Sept. 22, the girls won the first game 25-13. To the players and everyone else watching, it seemed like they were going to take home another win in two games when the score was 22-17, but a missed serve and a few bad passes later, the Falcons lost 26-24. They were unable to return many balls in the third game and lost 15-6.   

“I think it's because when someone starts to play down, it affects the whole team, and we start to give up,” junior outside hitter Julia Lee said.

The team had a particularly disappointing night on Sept. 27 in a match against Notre Dame Belmont. The gym was unusually quiet during the match, and team morale seemed to be low.  They lost 25-18, 25-12 and 25-14.

“We’ve had moments of brilliance this season, but what we still need to work on is learning how to play our best when it really matters,” coach Brad Frederickson said. “And that’s what we’re focused on right now,”

Despite these disappointments, the girls are confident they can improve their ability to finish games.

“I think we can improve by having more intense game situations so we can learn how to keep our intensity up,” Sisco said. “We also need to learn from those mistakes.”

Although they ended with a preseason record of 5-9, this record is second best among all the teams in the El Camino league with the exception of Cupertino High, whom they defeated at the Cupertino tournament in three games on Sept. 22.