The San Diego City College volleyball team won its first match of the season, defeating Pacific Coast Athletic Conference opponent Imperial Valley College in four sets at Harry West Gym, Wednesday Sept. 18.
The Knights (1-4, 1-1 PCAC) lost the first set 21-25, but bounced back to win the next three, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-21 to win the best-of-5 set series, 3-1.
Despite the Knights dropping their first four matches of the season, City College Head Coach Audra Dent feels like her team has been improving with each match.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from our losses leading up to this, and we had a really close one on Monday, and then I feel like the girls were just determined to get it done tonight,” Dent said.
City got over the hump thanks to an all-around team effort that was led by performances from freshman Tayen Orr (12 kills), sophomore Allison Wygal (12 kills), sophomore Aamori Daniels (11 kills) and freshman Aliyah Lucas (10 kills and 26 digs), who were on the attack.
“Our middles, Aamori (Daniels) and Tayen (Orr) have done a phenomenal job improving and being aggressive at the net and executing the ball for us,” Dent added.
Freshman Cassie Stevens (26 digs) and sophomore Cordelia Gipson (30 assistants) stabilized the Knight’s middle and back lines.
“Cassie Stevens, our libero, has been super solid all year,” Dent said. “She’s really stepped up and helped our program with our ball control.”
When comparing what changed from the first four games compared to Wednesday’s win, Dent attributes the win to her team’s chemistry and comfortability with each other.
“We’re finally getting into a system together and kind of trusting and buying into what we’re trying to do here at City,” Dent said. “You can just tell from our first match or two of the season (that) our level of play has elevated so much, so if we continue on that trajectory then I think that we’re gonna have a really good team.”
City plays its next three games on the road and returns to Harry West Gym, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 to take on Southwestern College.
