Cougar volleyball soaks in glory of shutout win
Koral Hearn sends a strong serve over the net for the unsuspecting Corsairs. Photo by Ashley GroganThe Lassen College volleyball team has finished their 2017 season with a 2-8 conference record and a 6-20 overall record.
Placing fifth of six teams in the Golden Valley Conference, the Lassen ladies didn’t have the best season statistically, but the lessons learned and the memories shared more than made up for the scores on the board.
However, the Lady Cougars were able to celebrate a grand victory once more before signing off on the season.
On Thursday, Nov. 2, the Lady Cougars hosted the College of the Redwoods Corsairs. The Lady Cougars may have acted as pleasant hosts initially, but once the game began, Lassen showed no mercy toward the Lady Corsairs.
The three quick matches ended with brutal scores of 25-17, 25-5 and 25-13, respectively.
In the first match, Lassen was on fire from the start. A few mishaps cost the Cougars a handful of points, but the final score showed an eight-point difference between the two teams with Lassen in the lead.
The teams seemed fairly well-matched with scores of 12-10 and 14-12 on the board, both favoring Lassen, but a spike by Koral Hearn sped things along to earn Lassen’s 15th point.
A spike by Keelin Pilgrim caused the Corsairs to bump out for a 16-13 score, and a spike later on brought Lassen to a 20-14 lead.
Krysti Collier bumps the ball after a Corsair spikes it to her Thursday, Nov. 2. Photo by Ashley GroganA tip by Kendall Dummer brought the Lady Cougars to match point 24-17, and with a good play, Lassen won the first match 25-17.
In the second match, Dummer served the first ace to bring Lassen to a 3-0 lead. She then repeated herself to bring the score up to 4-0, and after a start like that; the Lady Cougars refused to let off the gas.
Jill Smith served three aces in a row to bring Lassen to a 12-4 lead, the last of which grazed the net and caused the Lady Corsairs to scramble forward in panicked rush to make contact with the ball.
A block made by Rosario Medina put Lassen ahead 13-4, and the Cougars worked well together to keep possession on the home side.
Two aces from Smith brought the Cougars to the match point of 24-4, but the Corsairs were lucky enough to land another point in before Lassen sealed the deal 25-5.
In the third match, the first point was given to the Corsairs because of a faulty spike.
Gabi Geoia tips the ball over the net during the third match against the College of the Redwoods. Photo by Ashley GroganRedwoods then earned a 2-0 lead after another good play on their part, but it was certainly the last lead they would hold for the remainder of the evening.
Lassen eagerly pounced on the Corsairs and regained their lead with scores of 7-3, 20-6 and 24-11.
Again, the Corsairs managed to exert their last ounce of strength to gain possession before the match was said and done, but it didn’t take much longer before a 25-13 Lassen score shut the opposing team up and sent them packing.
After wiping the floor with the Corsairs, Lassen hosted their final conference game against the Butte Roadrunners Monday, Nov. 6.
The Roadrunners put up much more of a fight than the Corsairs, and after such an exhilarating win, the Lady Cougars had trouble refocusing.
The game ended with 3-0 on the board favoring Butte and thus ending the season. The match scores were 25-10, 25-9 and 25-21, respectively, showing that the Lady Cougars put up a fight from start to finish.
