Edith Noriega | Sports Editor
Nov. 13, 2014
The Riverside City College women’s volleyball team continue to keep their heads up after falling short against Cypress College Chargers Nov. 7 with set scores (25-23, 25-17, 15-11).
In the first set the Tigers really put up a fight by putting a stop to the Chargers top hitter No. 5 Lindsey Ray but due to the inability to connect and reduce errors RCC quickly loss the second and third set.
“We had a lot of potential to win especially in the first set but we progressively got down and down and lost all of our energy,” said RCC outside hitter No. 22 Euricce LeSure.
“Our momentum and drive to go after every ball they were throwing at us was gone.”
To make matters worse RCC’s starting hitter missed a practice and game due to a family loss and their starting middle was in a car accident four hours prior to the game.
“Everything was just disjointed even though normally it is because we don’t have a followed starting lineup,” explained RCC head coach Monica Hayes-Trainer.
“Very few players have proven themselves to be the starters. They just have to get used to playing next to different people and their used to it but they’re just a little discombobulated for whatever goes on in their head, uncertainties, self talk and where they are at their confidence level.”
The Tigers know they can compete against these top ranked teams, they just have to do a little extra in order to get the points, sometimes they are able to and sometimes they were not.
No. 18 middle blocker Ashley Tamas played great against Saddleback with 13 kills and against Cypress she had zero.
“It’s not that big of a difference in a block but to go from those two extremes it’s hard to fathom what is going on, what is making it so difficult to connect,” Hayes-Trainer said.
RCC will finish off the season with an away game against the Fullerton College Hornets Nov. 14 and the last home game and the end of the regular season against the Golden West Rustlers Nov. 19.
According to the CCCAA rankings the Tigers are currently sixth place with a 3-8 record in the Orange Empire Conference and 6-14 overall with a winning percent of 0.300 percent.
This will be the end of the road for the Tigers, as they do not qualify for the Southern California Regionals.
Hayes-Trainer commented that she has one thing in mind as the season will come to an end and that is getting back to the gym and working on consistency and reducing errors.
