Bakersfield College’s volleyball team’s Oct. 16 win against Citrus was a fluke.
That is the perception of head coach Carl Ferreira of the team’s performance at the game. BC won 3-1 with scores of 30-25, 30-24, 29-31, and 30-26.
“We were very fortunate to come away with a win; this was not one of our better performances of the season,” Ferreira said.
Ferreira feels that the team has very high performance standards, and that the team did not play up to those standards with the Citrus game.
“We were not in sync. We were not up to our usual rhythm,” Ferreira said.
According to Ferreira, the team must always pay more attention to its own performance as a unified body and not so much to the opponent with either its collective or individual strengths.
Ferreira conceded that Citrus had one player who did an especially good job, but he stated that his team performed more like a focused, collective whole, which is to the team’s credit.
“When playing sports, you can’t accomplish things by yourself,” Ferreira said.
“This is why people play sports.”
The Oct. 12 game with Canyons yielded a 3-2 win with scores of 30-25, 24-30, 30-17, 22-30, 15-6. Ferreira attributes the win against Canyons to consistently good serves and passes, high mental agility, and emotional maturity, not to mention competent defensive moves.
The Citrus game began with Rachel Cox, Jaimee Humphrey and Heather Liles at the net blocking with Tricia McGowan serving. Soon, Liles knocked the ball into the opponent’s court several times over with Cox often setting up. McGowan was a frequent server. Katie Cronk performed successful digs during the first game.
Cox was joined by Cronk, and Haylee Varner at the net as blockers, and Karlie Thompson served. Cox, as was often, set up the ball, which Cronk spiked. Cox did significant amounts of blocking, setting up the ball, and serving. McGowan performed frequent blocking duties. Cronk spiked the ball frequently and fiercely. In fact, Cronk delivered the most spikes.
Libero Emily Ermigarat received and addressed most of the serves from Citrus. Varner served countless times as a competent blocker.
During breaks, Ferreira reiterated that the team needed to be wary of the opposing team’s hitters and of where their own team stood in the match.
“We’re getting sucker punched like crazy,” Ferreira warned before the start of fourth game. “They (Citrus) are trying to get the ball to number 3.”
In this match, Thompson and Cronk addressed the serves of the other team. In this match, as in the other matches, Cox efficiently set up the ball for Liles, who successfully got the ball over. Humphrey, Liles, and Varner each spiked the ball ferociously during this match.
After the Citrus game, the team’s overall record stood at 14-3 and 6-0 in the Western State Conference.