Playing in its third consecutive match, Orestimba volleyball were swept by Summerville in three sets at home last Thursday.
Despite losing 25-14, 25-22, 25-11 in all of its sets, head coach Carlee Felber said this was the team’s best performance of the season, crediting the team's defensive hustle. “We had a lot of good hustle plays on defense, and obviously we weren’t able to put the ball away on offense, but we were kind of scrappy, and we were doing whatever we could to keep the ball off the floor,” she said.
Following a lopsided opening set, the Warriors began the second set with a sense of urgency. Thanks to a pair of kills from Orestimba and Summerville committing a couple of errors, the Warriors jumped out to a 10-7 lead. For most of the set, the Warriors were in control and playing on a pace to win it. However, a timeout from Summerville halfway through shifted the momentum of the set and match. With a pair of kills and multiple stops, Summerville gained a 20-19 lead and never looked back to win, 25-22.
Eventually, Summerville finished the sweep with a commanding 25-11 win in the final set. With the win, Summerville improves to 5-2 overall and remains undefeated against the Warriors’ program all-time at 3-0. Before Thursday’s contest, the last time both teams played against one another was Sept. 2013 where the match ended in a tie, 1-1.
“If you just keep making mistake after mistake, it’s kind of easy for the players to just get in their heads and kind of check out,” Felber said. “It’s kind of hard to dig yourself out of a big hole like we had in the first and third sets.”
Orestimba will play three more non-conference matches before they begin Trans Valley League play, as the team travels to Dos Palos High School on Tuesday. The opening set will begin at 5:30 p.m. Last season, the Warriors swept Dos Palos, 3-0.
“With every loss, there’s something that we can take away from it and learn from it, and then make that better the next game, so that way we’re not making the same mistakes over and over,” Felber said.
Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County.
