American River College’s volleyball team continued it’s winning streak Wednesday, defeating Modesto Junior College for the second time this season and advancing to 12-0.
Overall, the team performed well, winning the match in 3 straight games, with the last match ending in a 3-1 victory.
“It’s really hard on the road,” said coach Ashlie Frame. “We are a lot more comfortable in our gym, because we live here every day. So it was nice to see that we got better than maybe we were when we played them a few weeks ago.”
While the girls scored first in two of the three matches, they were slow to gain momentum.
“I feel that when we start, we feel a bit anxious and a bit nervous and then somebody does something good and we are like ‘OK, we can play volleyball,’” said the team’s co-captain Erika Jones.
ARC started the first match by quickly scoring against MJC, who responded in kind, tying the score.
Despite MJC’s attempts to catch up, ARC continued to gain momentum, quickly scoring six more points before MJC’s coach called a timeout.
As the match continued, ARC would pull ahead even further, leading MJC to call another timeout when the score was 18-11 in ARC’s favor.
After the timeout, MJC began pressing ARC hard.
During one particular rally, it seemed almost definite MJC would score. As they hit a spike, Jones dove for the ball, a mere instant away from hitting the ground, and sent the ball flying into the air, allowing ARC to return the ball and eventually score.
ARC scored the first point again in the second game of the match, but once again lost the lead right after.
ARC and MJC struggled for control of the ball, seemingly evenly matched, until Jones hit a powerful spike against MJC, rallying ARC to overtake MJC.
The drive was short lived, as MJC also gained momentum, eventually tying the game 14-14.
After the tie, ARC started an onslaught of points against MJC, taking a commanding lead of 20-15.
ARC won the second game of the match 25-18.
The third game started with the first point going to MJC.
MJC kept the lead until ARC player Erianna Williams ran in for another decisive spike, tying the match at 5-5.
However, MJC continued to score until they turned the ball over and Monica Udahl stepped up to serve for ARC.
Udahl’s serves seemed to rally ARC, enabling them to tie up the match, and eventually overtaking Modesto.
ARC would go on to win the third and final match 25-15.
The next game will be Friday, Nov. 7 against San Joaquin Delta College at 6:30 p.m. at SJDC.
