Cerritos Falcon’s volleyball began on Sept. 14 at 5 p.m with the final score being 21-25, 22-25 and 20-25 giving the Los Angeles Pierce a 3-0 sweep for the win.
At first glance, you can tell the Bulls were the more physically gifted team using their height to their advantage but the Falcons weren’t intimidated and played up to their level.
The Falcons had a rough start to the series letting the Bulls outscore them 17-8 but they found their rhythm and crept back to make it interesting late but ultimately lost the set 21-25.
The Falcons seemed to be caught off guard by the Bulls’ tough play because body language was down and sideline noise was pretty much nonexistent compared to the opposing team.
The first set was the Falcons’ best set on paper with a .091 shooting percentage (PCT) compared to their negative PCT in the next two sets.
The second set didn’t start any better with the Bulls going on a 6-0 run and forced the Falcons to call a timeout early but came right back with a run of their own to take the lead 8-6.
Both teams were trading huge blows allowing each team long runs of strikes but after 5 straight points, the bulls were forced to call a timeout after their lead was cut to 14-13.
The Falcons seemed to keep the momentum going with a block from Carissa Mendibles No.8 (Soph) Setter and Aiyana Sierra No.13 (Soph) Middle Blocker to even the score.
However, too many errors on our side kept them from winning the set with a score of 25-22.
In the third set, the Falcons seemed more energetic and angry not wanting to be swept and came out leading 11-7 at the beginning of the set, led by a kill by Abby Gutierrez No.22 (Soph) Opposite Hitter.
But like all night the Falcons hurt themselves with costly errors and inconsistent play blowing a slight lead and losing the set and match 25-20.
Although the attacking errors on both sides were only separated by one error the difference in strikes was a huge factor with the Falcons coming out with 20 K’s to the Bulls ending with 31 K’s
The head coach for the Falcons, Kari Hammering, said errors were what caused the team to come short this game.
“We made too many unforced errors on our side,” Hammering said.
When asked how will the team bounce back after a loss like this Hammering said, “It’s going to take a lot of focus and mental toughness but I think we can do it.”
Carissa Mendibles No.8 (Soph) Setter had some words after this crushing loss, she said “It’s all a work in progress. I know our record doesn’t look good but we’re trying to stay as confident as possible.”
The Falcons have a chance to come back and win their first conference game versus East L.A. on Sept.15.
