By Lilian Nguyen
On Thursday, the Fountain Valley High School girls’ varsity volleyball competed against Corona Del Mar High School and fell to a 0-3 loss. Multiple points were scored by seniors Judy Juhala and London Braithwaite and the girls put forth a great effort, but fell short on defense and could not overcome the Sea Kings’ persistent spikes.
At the beginning of the first set, the Barons kept the score at a close gap where they fought hard to gain a lead over the Sea Kings.
While trying to keep the score gap close to the Sea Kings, they began to pull away as the Barons fell behind due to a series of out-of-bounds serves and spikes from the Sea Kings which the barons were unable to receive. From this, the Sea Kings were able to surpass the Barons and win the first set with a score of 14-25.
“We could have worked on our defenses a bit in the beginning and tried to use a lot more communication and try to bring a lot of energy on the court and just be in the mindset to play,” Juhala said.
With the first set coming to a close, the Lady Barons resolved on making it even by coming back and taking the second set with Braithwaite showing great effort in an attempt at keeping the Sea Kings at bay with a series of great blocks, keeping the gap close.
Although great efforts were made, the Sea Kings kept pulling away as the Barons were faced with a series of net touches and faulty mistakes. With this, the Sea Kings won the second set with a score of 11-25.
Having two sets slip away from them, the Barons seemed in rough shape entering the third set but even with the Sea Kings attacking aggressively, they still made a valiant effort to keep the ball in the air.
The Barons kept a lead at first, winning the long rallies with a huge morale boost with kills from junior Lola Larson and spikes from sophomore Dezi-Jae Butler. Yet again, the Sea Kings pulled away and won the third and final set with a score of 12-25.
“We could have been a lot more consistent,” head coach Rebecca Cheltenham said. “We struggled with consistency in both serving and hitting and in doing the little things individually.”
The girls’ varsity team’s next home game will be against Laguna Beach High School on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m.
