In a game that came down to the wire, the women’s volleyball team managed to pull off a 3-2 win on Wednesday against local rivals, the Sacramento City College Panthers.
The game marked the beginning of conference play for the Hawks, who headed into the match with a 10-1 record in their invitational games.
Head coach Kari Nahlen said there’s always pressure when facing the Panthers, whether it’s at home or away.
“It’s been a really good rivalry,” Nahlen said. “We are very even teams so it’s just about who has a better day or who has more heart that day.”
The Hawks started on the front foot winning the first set 13-25 and collecting 17 kills, the game’s highest. They closed the set by scoring five times consecutively. In the next set, the Hawks remained dominant winning the set 16-25 and accumulating a six-point scoring streak throughout it.
The Panthers, however, found a way back into the game winning the third and fourth sets 26-24 and 25-21, respectively.
“The first two sets we were really loud and energetic and in those second two sets we died down and started making mistakes and unforced errors,” said Emmerson Patterson, a freshman defensive specialist.
Freshman mid-block Elizabeth Fetzer said she agreed with Patterson’s assessment.
“I started getting afraid of making mistakes but my team picked me up,” Fetzer said. “We kind of got a little bit timid so it was easier to make mistakes, but when we got out of that we were really excited to get those points.”
For the third and fourth set the Hawks made 11 and 10 errors respectively. In comparison, they ended the first set with three and the second set with four.
“We definitely helped Sac City in the way of just giving them points with errors hitting out, errors serving out,” Nahlen said.
In the deciding set, the Hawks started to once again replicate the form they started the game with, leading to them winning the set 10-15 and the match overall.
“In that last set we really came back to what we were doing the first two sets,” Nahlen said. “We made it hard for Sac City because we were putting the ball in good spots and weren’t giving them points like they had gotten during the third and fourth sets.”
From one local rival to another, the Hawks suffered a 3-0 loss away at the American River College Beavers on Friday. They next play at home against the Sierra College Wolverines on Wednesday at 6 p.m.