Photo by Tony Sintic
Published on October 9, 2009
They say when it rains it pours, and the Moorpark College women’s volleyball team created a torrential downpour, sweeping the Citrus College Owls in three sets (25-9, 25-12, 25-17) Friday night.
Raider head coach Steve Burkhart believed the team’s hard work at practice contributed to the team’s success against the Owls.
“I really think a good part of it was how we practiced this week,” he said. “We are really trying to get focused now.”
And were the Raiders ever focused.
The Raiders (10-1) scored seven straight points in the first set against the Owls (3-6), who did not get their first point until a Raider service fault.
The Raiders continued to pour on the offense, and started to pull away from the Owls when freshman Libero Erika Smith added two straight aces, giving the Raiders a 13-1 lead.
Smith added insult to injury when her third ace ended the set, which the Raiders won 25-9.
The Raiders stayed focused and continued to completely dominate an overmatched Owls team, jumping to a 4-0 lead in the second set. The Raiders never trailed the entire set, and extended their lead to 13-5.
A kill by middle blocker Kaki Bage proved to be the deciding factor in the set, extending the Raiders lead to 14-6. The Raiders eventually won the set 25-12.
The Owls took their only lead of the entire match in the third set, when they took the first point of the set and quickly took a 4-2 lead.
The Raiders proved to just be toying with them, however, when they went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-5 lead. Sophomore middle blocker Rachel Olinyk let the set slip out of the Owls’ hands with a powerful ace that gave the Raiders a 10-5 lead.
Although the Raiders dominated every aspect of the match, Burkhart believed that they needed to focus on their next match against Western State Conference rival, Ventura College. He stated that he hopes to beat Ventura, even though the teams should be pretty evenly matched.
“It’s just one of those matches where anybody can win that match,” he said. “I’m very hopeful that we’re going to work hard and beat Ventura.”