It was senior night for the volleyball team and it was a classic way to end a rivalry match against the Walnut Mustangs. The Lady Brahmas dominated most of last Wednesday’s match, finishing off Walnut 3-2. The story of the night was not only the win, but also the way DB smashed Walnut to advance itself into the CIF playoffs.
The Lady Brahmas came out with a killer’s mentality right from the start. With a fluid offense and an impeccable defense, DB went on to finish the match 25-19. “The game went well and we killed the first set,” coach Erica Hansen said. Tia Hernandez led the Lady Brahmas with 134 attack kills.
The second set was more of the same except better. The flowing offense remained the same while DB’s defense strengthened even more. Anna Vorkink played excellently to improve the Lady Brahmas lead to 2-0. At this point of the match, DB seemed invincible and Walnut looked hopeless for the rest of it. The crowd died down for a bit and Walnut seemed lifeless. The second set ended with a final score of 25-14.
“Seniors Tia Hernandez and Hayley Everhart both played well,” Hansen said. Overall, the seniors seemed to play better on senior night. Putting in more effort and trying harder on defense, the Lady Brahmas dedicated this game to the seniors. However, consistency remained a problem.
The fans started to cheer and the Mustangs started to get back in the game. Building up momentum and motivation, the Mustangs were a different team coming out of the second set. Although DB put up a good fight, it was not enough to match the Mustang’s attacking offense. DB ended the set losing 25-21. The main key to this comeback seemed to be the fans, who cheered on their losing team with an excellent spirit and eventually brought back life to Walnut.
“We started making errors and I think the Walnut girls were getting to the [DB] girls,” Hansen said.
The Lady Brahmas were now in a slump after a scare in the third set. Unable to get its offense flowing, DB looked as if it had given up the match. The lackadaisical effort on defense with a dead offense ultimately led to a blow-out victory for Walnut. The Lady Brahmas uncharacteristically gave up the fourth set 25-14. “The third and fourth game we went down a little bit,” Hansen said.
Although the match was tied at 2-2, the Lady Brahmas were not done yet. With the very last bit of strength it had, DB came back to upset Walnut. The first and second set were looking familiar again as the Lady Brahmas poured out everything they had to win the set 15-6.
The Lady Brahmas finished the league in second place and their first CIF game is last Tuesday. DB plans to pursue a successful CIF run. With their practice and effort they put in all season, the Lady Brahmas are headed into CIF.