The women’s volleyball team was able to exact some revenge over Cypress College by beating them in three sets 25-21, 25-15 and 25-17 in a conference showdown.
After falling to Cypress 3-1 in their conference opener Oct. 3, the ladies knew they would have a tough match on their hands Wednesday night on their home court.
Led by sophomores Alex Winfield, Grace Lopez and Azucena Duarte, the Lady Hornets easily dispatched the first place Chargers in straight sets.
“We’ve been practicing a lot and studied their defense a lot,” said Lopez. “The last time we played them, it was kind of a letdown for us, so we had a lot of confidence coming in and worked really hard to get here.”
The first game started out well as the Hornets jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Chargers wouldn’t go down without a fight as they pulled even at nine apiece. The Lady Hornets scored three straight points and would lead the rest of the way before closing out the first game 25-21.
During the second game, the Hornets led by as many as nine and never were in any real trouble as they pulled that game out 25-15. Impressive serves by Lopez and Winfield as well as big time kills from Duarte helped the Lady Hornets head into the third set with a 2-0 lead.
The final set of the night proved to be the most competitive for the Lady Hornets. They jumped out and took a 13-6 advantage early on, but the Chargers showed heart and made the final match interesting. Cypress closed in to make it 13-10 forcing the Hornets to take a timeout to regroup.
“When you get up by a few, the last thing you want to do is give the opposing team any hope,” said Jason Dillard, Fullerton associate head coach. “Most times I’d probably let that go, but we called the timeout, limited their momentum and then went on a pretty big run right after.”
The strategy paid off for the them as they would go on to roll to a 25-17 win, completing the three game sweep and grab a share of first place with the Chargers.
The Lady Hornets (11-5, 6-2) look to ride their hot hand when they travel to Riverside (11-5, 4-4) on Friday at 6 p.m. They will return home next Wednesday to take on Orange Coast at 6 p.m. in the south gym.
