By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
SAN PERLITA — It was an eerie atmosphere for the San Perlita Lady Trojans as they opened their season with a three-set sweep of Monte Alto.
There were no fans in the stands. The chairs for the coaches and subs were staggered and spread out in accordance with social distancing. It was quiet and it was different, but at least it was volleyball.
San Perlita coach Criselda Rubalcaba had some concern going into the match, considering the limited practice time and the youth of her squad, but the 25-17, 25-7, 25-19 win showed her the Lady Trojans are on the right path.
“We’ve only had a week of practice and we lost a few key players from last year, so our team is kind of young,” Rubalcaba said. “We only have two non-district games, so we were a little worried about trying to get it together. But they’re coming together really well. They work really hard, so I’m nothing but confident that they’ll be OK.”
Rubalcaba said the Lady Trojans focused on communication in practice Monday before the season opener, and their work was on display against the Lady Devils. They opened up a quick 7-1 advantage in the opening set as junior setter Elyssa Nieto distributed the ball to a number of San Perlita hitters.
Junior middle blocker Aliyah Garcia was especially productive throughout the match for the Lady Trojans. She was a consistent presence at the net, using her height to cash in overpasses from Monte Alto for kills and applying pressure as a blocker. Garcia’s serve helped San Perlita open up a nine-point lead, the largest of the first set.
“I felt really good, actually. First game back, so I was really excited,” Garcia said. “(The atmosphere in the gym) was a little off, I feel, but it was still awesome playing with the girls because I missed them so much. We played pretty well together. We have a lot of new, younger girls, and they played really well for their first time.”
The Lady Devils fought off three set points, but the deficit was too much to overcome — a common theme during their first contest of the season. They found some intensity and played well in stretches, but those bursts typically came after falling far behind.
The second set was all Lady Trojans. Behind the strong serving of junior Jasmine Rodriguez, San Perlita jumped out to a 9-1 lead. Rodriguez was a solid defender in the back row and contributed to the Lady Trojans’ attack with some good hits from the opposite side.
Nieto made smart decisions at the setter position while the Monte Alto defense was out of rhythm. She found open spots in the defense for tip-kills and kept a variety of Lady Trojans swinging from all parts of the court, including Garcia, Rodriguez and Julyssa De Luna, to keep Monte Alto off balance and dominantly win the set, 25-7.
“(Garcia, Rodriguez and Nieto are) three juniors on the team that were starters as freshmen, so they’ve just grown so much,” Rubalcaba said. “Their chemistry is great. They know how to work together and play really well. … I definitely think we have plenty of strong hitters. We’re going to work on hitting, hitting, hitting, and of course on our defense, we have to improve there a little.”
When the Lady Devils fell behind by 14 in Set 2, coach Anyssa Rios called a timeout and told her players she knew they were much better than they looked on the court. She wanted to light a fire in them, and it worked.
Monte Alto’s defense became much more active and the passes improved, giving setter Kassandra Bernal the opportunity to stay in position and set up her hitters instead of chasing down erratic first touches. Rachel Medrano, Jennifer Jasso, Jocelyn Diaz and Angie Longoria started swinging better and harder, resulting in longer rallies and better play to close out the second set and carrying through the third set.
Diaz was strong at the net, recording blocks and getting her hands on San Perlita’s hits to slow them down and aid the back-row defense, anchored by libero Julissa Longoria. Longoria is a young player Rios is excited about, and she performed well against the Lady Trojans’ hitters.
“There’s a lot of talent out here, even though our score did not reflect it as much as I’d like,” Rios said. “They have to learn to light a fire in themselves. When they want it, they’re going to go make it happen, but I can’t want it for them. We’re a very young team, just trying to learn how to play together. They’ve come such a long way, and I’m excited to see what they have. Once we build that confidence and we work together, I think we’re going to be pretty good.”