Natalie Lercari-Sullivan
Photo Credit: Andre Doty
Posted: Nov 01, 2024
With a pair of home games this week, the Vaqs began the week versus Cuesta with a sweep on Wednesday night by the scores of 25-12, 25-19, 25-20.
Team leaders for the match were Kaylin Cooney with 11 kills, Tana Long with 8 kills, 14 digs and 4 aces, and Natalie Lercari-Sullivan with 24 assists and 2 aces. "I thought our team did a nice job of playing a well balanced match," said Coach Niksto. "We were really focusing on our side of the net and limiting our unforced errors.
In the second match of the week, the Vaqs had a battle versus Moorpark, but unfortunately fell just a bit short in several close sets, losing 1-3. The final scores were 25-23, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19.
"This one was a hard loss to process because it had big conference standings implications," said Coach Niksto. "We have been playing such good volleyball, and improved so much throughout the course of the season - you just hope to put all the pieces together in the biggest games, and it just didn't quite happen tonight."
The Vaqs were once again led by freshman Kaylin Cooney who blasted 16 kills while hitting .433%. Coach Niksto said, "I thought Kaylin once again proved why she is such a dominant attacker. She has been playing great, and had another strong attacking game tonight." Tana Long logged her second double double of the season with 14 kills and 12 digs, while Nevaeh Tillet scored her third double double of the season with 10 kills and digs. "Both our outsides took a ton of swings tonight, and I thought they controlled the ball well and made good decisions about when to swing and when to keep the ball in play," remarked Niksto. Libero Valeria Bellodas once again had another outstanding night, with excellent serve receive passing and 28 digs for the match. "It felt like on paper the match could have gone either way, unfortunately we couldn't convert points at the ends of sets 1 and 3," concluded Niksto.
Upcoming: the Vaqs go back on the road Wednesday night at Ventura, and then have a bye for Friday night.
