Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/19/07 Section: Sports

Photo by Dave Conklin

The women's volleyball team has continued their spirited play the past week. The Lady Hornets have yet to lose a set to any California rival.

On Friday night Fullerton (5-0) took on Citrus College in their gym in Glendora. The Lady Hornets pressed the attack throughout the match, and the Owls simply could not keep up. Fullerton defeated Citrus in three straight sets (30-14, 30-17, 30-26).

Overall, Citrus only had one close set, which came in the third. Otherwise they had no chance in the match. Fullerton had 5 total team blocks and the Owls had only 1. The team attack percentages tell the story of the match.

In the first set the Lady Hornets had a team hitting percentage of .308 compared with Citrus' 0.51. During set two Fullerton kept the same pace with a percentage of .302, and the Owls dipped deeper, going into negative intergers with a team average of -.050. The final set allowed Cypress to get an average of .100 but Fullerton kept their focus with a team hitting percentage of .289.

The Owls overall performance left much to be desired. Their total hitting percentage was only .039 with a meager 24 kills in 129 total attempts. Citrus outside hitter Rebecca Hernandez was into negative integers with -.125 hitting percentage. No Owl (1-3) had any kills that reached double digits.
On the other end of the spectrum the Lady Hornets excelled in every category. They had a team hitting percentage of .299 with 48 kills in 127 total attempts. They doubled the output of the Owls in kills.

Middle blocker Leah Haproff lead the team with 12 kills and only one error. She finished with a hitting percentage of .524. Captain Gina Conley followed closely behind with 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .474. She also had 8 defensive digs for the team.

On the defensive side, the Lady Hornets were just as impressive. Libero Rochelle Wylie led the team in defensive digs with 14 for the match. Outside hitter Kelly Thompson was almost identical with 13 digs, and outside hitter Nicole Coffer had 11.

Last Wednesday Fullerton played host to Palomar and treated them almost identically. The Lady Hornets came out ready to play, and again defeated their rival in three sets (30-19, 30-16, 31-29).

The Comets came out in the first set and put themselves up early 1-4. The lead did not last long. Within a few minutes the Lady Hornets had a 15-7 lead and did not let up until the set was put away.

The second set was utter dominance by Fullerton. Palomar put up the first point, but the Lady Hornets soon had a 19-11 lead and never let the Comets back into the set.
Palomar finally pushed the Lady Hornets to their limits. The Comets put up a 0-5 spot against Fullerton to start the third set. It was back and forth constantly. Every time the Lady Hornets established a lead, Palomar would tie. Finally with the set tied 29-29, Fullerton came up with two points to put away the match.

"We weren't very cohesive today," said Palomar Head Coach Karl Seiler. "They put a lot of pressure on us. [In the third set] we started to make some plays and be consistent. We felt like we can play with this team."

Fullerton's next challenge will be today at 6 p.m. in the South Gym against Cuesta, who eliminated them last year from playoff contention in the first postseason match.

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