The second week of school started the time of chaos, on Monday, August 22nd the Pride’s varsity volleyball team decided to create an image for themselves on the court. They challenged themselves as a team as well as individually- whether they were on the court or on the bench cheering their teammates on. On Monday and Wednesday during the preseason scrimmage against Turlock Christian and Lincoln scores were not kept, but the Pride continued to play as hard as they could. Courtney Phelps, one of the team’s setters said, “I believe we worked as hard as we could. There are a few things we need to work on, but overall I’m very proud of the team.” On Friday, August 26th, the team walked into Beyer’s gym with their brand new long sleeved jerseys on. Despite the fact the jerseys looked very professional and intimidating, the team rolled up their sleeves as much as they could (the gym had no air conditioning). There was excitement as this games was the first game where scores were kept. There were several amazing digs from Vanessa Serrato, multiple kills from Sierrah Miller, Vickie Rouse, and Melinda Gonzalez, as well as blocks. The team suffered the loss of one of their strongest players, Ashley Solis, due to an ankle sprain when playingLincoln. Although the week ended with their first loss of the season, they played with heart until the fifteenth point in the fifth game.
The second week of games started on Monday with a foundation game with against Hilmar. “This game did not show us at our best,” said Sierrah Miller, an outside hitter, “we struggled, and can do a lot better. We have so much potential.” This game resulted in four blocks from Vickie Rouse, eight kills by Ashley Solis, and four aces by Sierrah Miller. Julia Brewer had sixteen assists overall, and helping her gain those numbers was Vanessa Serrato with twelve digs.
With one day to fix the obstacles the team ran into on Monday night, they worked extremely hard Tuesday at practice. On Wednesday they walked out confidence, and beat Oakdale High in three fierce games. Ashley Solis had nine kills, and Julia Brewer had fifteen assists. Oakdale’s Domi Powell had six kills, and their setter, Kellie Gratigny, had sixteen assists proving how intense the match was. Pitman had twelve digs by Vanessa Serrato, two aces by Ashley Solis, and four blocks by Melinda Gonzalez. Both Kristen Pontes and Paola Inman, the coaches, were ecstatic with the way the team played because Oakdale is a very strong team, and it showed them how much potential their young team holds.
Both the junior varsity and the freshmen teams have had exciting victories as well. They have won both of their games against Beyer and Oakdale. Their coaches Erin Taylor, the Junior Varsity coach, and Megan Britton, the freshmen coach, are passionate about improving their teams, and coming out on the top for the second year in a row.