Passing problematic for Vaqs
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Their main strength suddenly deserted them, leaving the members of the Glendale Community College women’s volleyball team flustered.
What the Vaqueros hadn’t counted on Wednesday night was their passing efficiency becoming a weakness during their Western State Conference match against visiting Bakersfield College.
“We couldn’t get a good pass going or put a ball away,” Glendale Coach Yvette Ybarra said after the Vaqueros fell, 25-22, 25-11, 25-10. “We played so well in game one and then we literally stopped playing the last two games, which was hard to watch.
“We had too many mental and physical breakdowns that didn’t need to be.”
Glendale (7-11, 2-3 in conference) lost its third conference match in a row. A solid serving attack ignited Bakersfield (10-5, 3-1) in the first of two head-to-head meetings against the Vaqueros.
“We tried to take away a couple of their strengths, one being their passing,” Bakersfield Coach Carl Ferreira said. “They usually have a great ball-control team.
“Efficiency is what it’s about. We did well at the net and we finished with 49 [team] kills.”
In the first game, Glendale took a 20-19 lead on a kill by freshman outside hitter/middle blocker Angela Gaignard. However, Bakersfield used a 6-2 run to seize the momentum and perhaps deflate the Vaqueros.
The Renegades led throughout the second and third games.
In the second game, Bakersfield received a kill from freshman middle blocker Brittany Smith to take an 11-4 lead. A kill by Bakersfield freshman middle blocker Megan Black extended the advantage to 21-7. The Vaqueros got no closer than 22-11 on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Cami Martin, who recorded a team-best nine kills.
The Renegades had little difficulty stopping the Vaqueros in the third game. Bakersfield jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Glendale freshman setter Laila Souktani briefly interrupted the Renegades’ surge with a kill.
Glendale sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Sara Kert said the Vaqueros couldn’t regroup following their poor passing display.
“We’d make one error and then we couldn’t get out of the funk,” said Kert, who finished with five kills. “We’d get flustered and the errors would seem to keep coming.
“Errors are going to happen and they just carried over to the second game. All of us kept making errors.”
Sophomore libero Racquel Valenzuela, a Holy Family graduate, contributed 11 digs for the Vaqueros, who will have a bye Friday before returning for a conference match against College of the Canyons on Wednesday.
Black led the Renegades with 12 kills and teammate Charisma Hernandez, a freshman outside hitter, added 11.
The teams will meet again Nov. 11 at Bakersfield.
