Cardinals beat the Ramblers 3-1
The road trip of volleyball matches has gone fairly well for the number two ranking Cardinals; they were able to finish their cross country tour with an impressive 5-2. In their last match, the Cardinals (8-5, 5-2 MPSF) were able to defeat the Loyola's of
Chicago by three sets to one. Loyola however, (5-3) did not give up the match easily and put up a commendable fight winning the first set and giving the Cardinals a real run for their money in the last three, however in the Cardinals prevailed with the finishing
scoreboard showing 18-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-21, in favour of the Cardinals.
Loyola put on a relentless effort in the first set and were able to post .667 hitting percentage which baffled the Cardinals. At the end of the game however, the Cardinals had registered a hitting percentage of .398.
Brad Lawson, the junior outside hitter for the Cardinals expressing his views about losing the first set said ''After losing the first set, we realized that we had to be a little sharper on our side of the net to compete with them, especially after how they
played in the first set. Luckily for us, their serving game eased up and we were able to get some better passes, which helped us run a more balanced offense to keep their blockers guessing.''
The Cardinals had learnt their lesson after the first set and with a deficit of seven points were still able to take control of the game early on. With the help of three service aces, the Cardinals managed to take a lead of 8-2. The Ramblers were unable
to overcome the lead and further aggravated their position by making seven service errors. This greatly boosted the Cardinal's morale and they eventually won the set 25 to 14.
The Ramblers decided to step up their play in the third set which consequently turned out to be far more competitive. There were a total of 16 ties as well as four lead changes between the two teams. However, no Rambler player was able to match the skill
of Steven Irvin, the freshman outside hitter of the Cardinals. Irvin was able to lead his team to victory in the third set by posting seven kills and ending the set at 25-22.
The fourth set of the match went on a similar note, with both teams moving forwards almost neck to neck. Brad Lawson of the Cardinals was able to post seven kills whereas, Eric Mochalski, freshman outside hitter contributed four kills for the Cardinals without
losing a single attacking opportunity.
Next in line for the Cardinals are MPSF matches over the weekend which they will be playing against UC-San Diego and UC-Irvine.
Tags: