The Miramonte girls' volleyball team (7-2) kept its win streak alive Thursday by defeating non-league opponent Amador Valley (5-5) in four sets.
Sophomore Caroline Schafer was a standout for the Matadors with nine kills and five blocks, and was a huge component in their winning three straight sets after losing the first to the Dons, 25-22. Amador Valley started off the match strong and jumped to an early 5-0 lead, scoring off of multiple Miramonte mistakes, and kept that lead through the rest of the set. The Mats stayed close though, and came within one towards the end of the set after a huge spike by sophomore Blake Sharp, but Amador Valley kept its composure and placed the ball perfectly over Miramonte’s blockers to hold on.
“We definitely underestimated how good they were when the game started,” Miramonte senior co-captain Lauren Foster said. “Losing the first set woke us up and we knew we had to really focus to be able to turn around and come back.”
Come back they did. The momentum began to turn as Schafer and her teammates heated up, blocking multiple Amador Valley hits and scoring significant points for the Mats. The Dons fought back, led by junior Ellen Olson, who had nine kills on the night, but it wasn’t enough to keep Miramonte from winning the second set 25-16.
Amador Valley came closer to derailing Miramonte’s momentum in the third set, but the Mats’ offense was creating troubles for the Dons as they couldn’t seem to counter the big hits coming from the opposite side of the court. Miramonte took the set 25-20 and shut down Amador Valley in the fourth, coasting to a 25-6, and overall 3-1 score.
“We were really focused and did really well and just played every point to the best of our ability," Miramonte coach Lisa Bachtold said. “I’m hoping to continue to carry the momentum into every match, keep working hard in practice, and keep getting more wins.”
One key player for the Mats was junior Emily Fabian, who played a part in nearly half of Miramonte’s combined 97 points as she dished out 41 assists to her teammates. In addition, sophomore Sharp racked up 10 kills and one block, and senior co-captian Vanessa Tang had seven kills and two blocks. Along with Olson, much of Amador Valley’s attack came from senior Drew Pressler, who had seven kills, and junior Jessica Rieble, who had five kills.
“I’m taking each match as a learning experience for each individual, making sure that they evaluate themselves when they get home so when it comes to a similar situation next match they are able to make the change on their own,” Amador Valley coach David Aguirre said. “Heading into league, my goals right now for them are to continue to work on defense, to make sure that each individual is responsible for each other in their positions, and to make sure their blocking assignments are correct. Also, we need to speed up our offense because in EBAL every team is good and every match is going to be a battle.”
Both teams will play in their first league matches on Tuesday. Amador Valley plays at California and Miramonte at Alhambra.
