Squad victorious in straight sets

The volleyball squad was able to find its rhythm offensively as it cruised past Mendocino College in three sets (25-17, 25-9 and 25-21) in Ukiah Friday.

“We just went out and played our game,” Comet setter Efaraima Danao said. “(We took the game) as a practice and just went through the motions. As the game progressed, we popped (the ball) up more and I was able to set up my hitters. Then we dominated. It feels great to come back home with the win.”

The Comets will go on the road to play Los Medanos College (2-10 overall, 2-4 in the BVC) today at 6 p.m.

Advancing in the Bay Valley Conference, the Comets (2-7 overall, 2-4 in the Bay Valley Conference) held the Eagles (0-8 overall, 0-6 in the BVC) in each seta despite Mendocino’s reluctance to easily.

So far this season the Comets’ only two victories have come on the road.

“The girls passed the free balls well, and our down balls well setting up good scores,” Comet coach Zachary Shrieve said. “There’s always a chance to improve, but we feel confident about our chances going into next week thanks to this game.”

The Eagles did not lie down and take the loss as they started to fight back, but after the second set where they were obliterated (25-9) they tried to win the last set.

“The team came out in the third set playing as if it were another practice session,” Danao said. “The whole third set we tried different things and worked on what we needed to fix in order to bring our game play experience to the level we have at practice.”

Shrieve said the Comets are aiming to be more aggressive by creating more scoring opportunities and not giving up against stronger opponents.

“As a team we weren’t playing as ferociously as I hoped against a weaker opponent in the beginning of the game,” Comet outside hitter Jazmine Mendoza said. “But as it went on we got our rhythm and got a lot of kills. Playing Mendocino was really good practice.

“They knew what we were trying to do after the first two sets and they started to prevent us from scoring, but we took the victory after we let them get an early four point lead in the third set,” she said.

The game against Mendocino helped the undersized Comet squad get much needed game experience against a larger, but less talented, Mendocino squad.

“The team has a really strong chance of winning its next two games, as long as we work together and play how we train,” Shrieve said.