Taking home the gold

Ashley Park, Staff Writer|October 6, 2021

Slowly but steadily building their way up, the girls volleyball team served a strong spike into the month.

The team played their first tournament of the season at the Whittier tournaments Sept. 10-11.

On the first day of the tournament, the Lady Brahmas took part in a pool play (best of 4 wins) against La Cañada, Bishop Amat and Montebello. Unfortunately, the team lost the first match to the stronger La Cañada team, who is ranked 13th in the state, 16-25 and 20-25.

 Adding a bit more momentum to their match, the team won against Montebello 25-18, 19-25, 15-9. Despite maintaining that strength against Bishop Amat, the Lady Brahams still lost by a small margin: 25-14, 14-25 and 13-15. 

While this close loss to Bishop Amat prevented them from qualifying for the gold bracket playoff division, they were still placed as the first seed in the silver division. This wrapped up the first day of the tournament with one win and two losses. 

“I was proud of how we played the first day and think that it was super helpful in figuring out what worked for us as well as how our team would play together,” junior Brooke Cha said.

On the second day, the team had a slower start against Bell Gardens High School in their quarterfinal match, but still won 24-26, 25-20 and 15-3. Getting the hang of triumph, in the semifinals, the Lady Brahmas defeated California High School 25-20, 11-25 and 15-11. The final match was against the more skilled Monrovia High School team, but the Brahmas remained strong and kept up their streak, defeating them 20-25, 25-18 and 15-9 and winning their division. The tournament improved the team’s overall record to 6-4.

“We entered the second day with the goal of winning our division and we did!,” Cha said, “We all pushed through and we played super cohesively and as a team.”

Throughout the weekend, senior Steph Mosley led the offense with 56 kills, and senior Sydney Humphrey and sophomore Priya George contributed 33 kills each. Returning back from an injury, Cha also played a major role as she had 81 assists and 15 aces. 

“Overall, it was a great tournament for us. We got six matches and five of the six went to three sets so we played a lot over the two days,” head coach Rebecca Bevans said. “We have to work on playing our best in all areas of the game.”

Through their experiences of games from day one, the team was able to strategize better lineups on the second day, which played a major part in their victory. However, the team is still working to improve and develop their chemistry. 

Overall, the team is still working on their consistency; often, they struggle with their offense but maintain a strong defense. 

Bringing home the gold trophy from their outstanding achievements from the Whittier Tournament, the Lady Brahmas have learned the importance of communication and are still working on better offense to come off even stronger next time.