Cypress High girls volleyball team suffered their only defeat of tournament pool play held at Mayfair High, losing to the host squad in two sets, 13-25 and 23-25.
The Centurions started off the match on their back foot and never really found a way back. Mayfair’s hitters keenly placed their hits between and around Cypress blockers, which led to kills and the early lead.
“We started off not prepared,” said Cypress head coach Aric Anderson. “We need to do a better job of preparing before we step out on the court and we didn’t do that.”
Cypress top outside hitter Katie Ashman was the hardest hitting player out on the court but her efforts were constantly dug up by an impressive Mayfair backline.
Mayfair’s Sarah Clausen delivered some early kills for the Monsoons and even stuffed a couple shots in the defensive end.
Cypress never got back within reach of victory in the first set, but they did regroup and made a better effort in the second. The turn around came late for the Centurions and wasn’t enough to force a third set, but it did display the team’s resilience and it displayed a facet of their abilities they need to improve on.
“We just need to be a little more prepared and a part of that is warming up early, and then being mentally ready to step on the floor,” said Anderson.
The Centurions started off the tournament in an opposite fashion than their start to the defeat to Mayfair. The girls picked up a win in their first game against Montebello high and a victory against San Dimas after that game.
“It’s just a matter of keeping our errors down, which is something we’re working on,” said Anderson.
Anderson noted that it was the girl’s comfort level that led to the early victories in the tournament.
“As long as were playing relaxed and we’re having fun, we can do a lot,” said Anderson. “They were relaxed [in the first two games] and they had fun.”
Cypress’ ability to maintain its composure will need to strengthen this season if they have hopes of a league title. They need to develop a bit more resilient in getting over frustrations and be able to capitalize when their opponents make mistakes.
“I’m not going to say we’re afraid out there, but I think we just don’t have all the confidence in the world that we need,” said Anderson.
With the regular season coming up in the first week of October, the Centurions have limited time left to coordinate their efforts before the all important league match-ups begin.
“Being so early in the season [our mistakes] are things that we have to learn from, and we need to learn to let the other team be nervous.” said Anderson. “We need to go out there and play how we do in the gym.”
