Volleyball Drops to 3rd in MCC - By Kaya Chang
The Richland Girls Volleyball team suffered a hard loss against Kennewick on September 21st putting them 3rd in the MCC with a district record of 3-2. Although the Lady Bombers lost 3-0 in sets, the girls showed perseverance and rallied the whole game. The first set ended with a close score of 23-25, and the second set even went to extra points ending with a score of 24-26. In the entire game, each point was scored within each other. Every time Kennewick would win a point, Richland would win the next.
Speaking with head coach Valerie Anderson prior to the game, she told me about the strategy going into this game: serve directly to the weaker spots on the court. After scouting on Tuesday at the Kamiakin versus Kennewick game, they gained a lot of information and were able to use it in putting together a collaborative goal that would hopefully influence the game. But throughout the match, Kennewick did a consistent job at returning all of our serves, setting them up with patient timing for spikes. Most of the points that Richland suffered from were tips and serving out of bounds, the stats reflect that overall there were 9 missed serves in all three sets that really damaged the score for the Lady Bombers.
Walking into the gym, Kennewick’s student section was filled to the brim with energy for the team. Throughout the game, their student section did not waiver. Unfortunately, many sporting events were going on at Richland High the night of this game including the very first home football game. There was no student section to help cheer on the Richland volleyball. A detrimental contributor to this loss was the number of unforced errors such as accidentally touching a ball going out of bounds or just hitting the ball out of bounds in general. Keeping up the energy and the spirit of the game was impressive throughout all three of the sets, we had clean kills and great blocks by many of the Richland girls.
Despite the loss, there were countless plays and possessions where team chemistry kept the ball alive and going back and forth. Kennewick's ability to spot the open areas and just tip the ball with pristine accuracy ultimately led them to their victory. Coach Val told me about the value and focus on cultivating the culture of the program this year, balancing competitive spirit while keeping the energy positive she wanted to have clear goals, one being that the positive environment of the team would be visible to the crowd, the opponents and within the each other. To attain this goal, Coach Val’s new plan that she introduced at the beginning of the season was something called the “Bomber Box”, where the team would come up with a few nouns that the girls would demonstrate for that week, one past word being ‘pride’. Then, at the end of the week, the team would regroup and evaluate, determining if they achieved the goal.
I also spoke with senior varsity outside hitter and blocker Emmy White, she told me that this year she felt that the team chemistry was “very, very good!” and that “being a senior, I really want to have a memorable last season”. To keep goals in line and a focal point during training and games, each week the team would come up with both a team goal and a personal goal. White explained that “recently, all our goals have been pretty much about being really energetic and getting our serve revived passing down to a T”. Coming off of this tough loss, I spoke to Coach Valerie again, and she told me that the main struggle from the team was serving and just basic passing, she felt that “everyone one was off, and it was hard to function as a unit”. Looking forward to the next home game against Walla Walla, the team is really going to work on those two skills and just executing passing. Despite Kennewick pulling out a huge student section, Coach Anderson still felt that it was a nonfactor that didn’t play into the downfall of this past game. Teamwork is a must and the girls as a whole are still working to build that trust and bond, especially for the the remainder of the season. Overall, this was a devastating loss on Richland’s part, but with the upcoming games and likely the next time they play Kennewick, the girls will be prepared and ready to win.
