The Fullerton College sand volleyball team is off to a 5-1 record through the first two Quad Tournaments of the season.
They are currently in a three-way tie atop the Orange Empire Conference North with Orange Coast College and Irvine Valley College. There only conference loss was the OCC and they have yet to match up with IVC.
“The match with Orange Coast really could have gone either way,” said head coach Eddie Rapp. “They beat us 3-2 but we had a lead in the third set of two of those matches. If we would have held onto the lead in one of those, then we would have won the match 3-2.”
The team remains confident that they are one of the better teams in the state, and that the match could have easily gone differently.
“They are a great team, but they are also very beatable,” said sophomore Celeste Snider. “We just need to come together during practice and push ourselves over that hump. Next time we play them, I am confident that we will beat OCC.”
In their most recent quad tournament, the Hornets dominated all three of their matches and came out with a 3-0 record. They beat Santa Ana and Pierce College 4-1, and took a closer 3-2 victory over Golden West.
All five pairings won at least one of their three matches. The top pairing of Alanna Hayhurst and Sam Palmer faced the stiffest competition and came out with a 1-2 record in three matches. The pairings of Shawnna Chung and Madeline Barrett, and Crystal Lopez and Kristin Santos both came out with 2-1 records.
The mid-level pairings are where the Hornets did most of their damage. The third pairing of Carly Joe Reeves and Tiffany Cobian took all three of their matches. The fourth pairing of Celeste Snider and Alexa Fairfield did the same.
Even though the team has seen success, the top five pairing are not necessarily safe.
“Every time we step on the court for practice each team is competing for a spot,” Rapp said. “We are a very deep team so there are some girls who are very capable players that have not gotten a chance to play yet.”
The team’s next tournament is Friday, Apr. 4 at Golden West College against IVC, Golden West and OCC. Golden West, OCC and FC all stand at 2-1 and the fourth team in the conference, Cypress, is 0-3.
After the quad tournament, there will be two-team playoff matches to decide which four teams will go on to the final quad tournament to determine the state champion.