By Hannah Lazarte
On Tuesday, the Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) varsity girls’ volleyball team went against Corona del Mar (CDM).
The FVHS Barons lost three out of four matches played. They lost the first set with a score of 7-25, lost the second set with 23-25, won the third set with 25-8 and lost the last set with 23-25 for a total score 1-3.
Strong key players in this game were junior Avery Medvin and senior Maylynn Pham. Medvin kept up a strong defense, blocking the ball and scoring many points for the Lady Barons. Pham was strong in serving, earning two points for the team with her serves and diving to save the ball from hitting the ground.
Starting the game, junior Trisha Le from FVHS served. After a few volleys, the Barons called the first timeout, where the score was 1-7. After attempted rallies, the Barons came up short against the Sea Queen’s offense. The first set ended with a final score of 7-25.
In the next set, the ball started in possession of the Sea Queens, which they used to pierce through the Lady Barons; defense to score the first point, bringing the score to 0-1. The lady Barons soon scored a point, and Malia Ramsamooj started the serve.
Junior Zoe Haugh dove to save the ball. However, CdM, now on the defensive, returned and scored again, furthering the Sea Queens’ lead to 1-2.
Soon after, Medvin blocked a ball from being scored. After a few tough rounds of trading points, the Lady Barons found a way to push through and tie the score up to 10-10. Senior Dezi Jae-Butler scored another point for FVHS, giving the lead to the Lady Barons with a score of 11-10.
The Lady Barons sought to extend their lead with Pham scoring twice. Both teams tried to score by trading points, with Medvin tying the game with a score of 23-23.
To recollect, FVHS called a timeout with CdM containing possession of the ball. After a close set with the Lady Barons tying up with the Sea Queens, CdM had the upper end ending the set with a final score of the set of 23-25.
Haugh started the third set with a powerful serve, scoring the Lady Barons a point. Senior Rebecca Staffieri scored two points with her two serves. Furthermore, Le and Pham were key players in this set; the pair each scored two points for the Barons. The team’s perseverance results in a winning set with a final score of 25-8.
The fourth set started with the Sea Queens’ possession. CdM sent in a serve that soared through the Barons’ defense, giving the first point of the set to the Sea Queens. Medvin soon blocked a ball scoring for the Lady Barons.
With a few hard rounds being played the score was brought to 4-7, and FVHS called their first timeout of the set. Staffieri and Pham would score twice, and after a few rough rounds of trading points, the Barons regrouped at 19-23.
Fountain Valley found a push of inspiration scoring four points to the Sea Queens’ one, closing the scoring gap to 23-24. As a result, the Sea Queens called a timeout; however, in the last round, the Lady Barons’ defense couldn’t hold up to the crushing offense of the Sea Queens. FVHS lost the set with an ending score of 23-25.
“I think we had a lot of hustle and I think it was overall a good match,” Medvin said. “There were some lows and there were some highs.”
Not only did she talk about her team and their hustle, but she also gave a shout-out to coach, Rebecca Cheltenham.
“My hope for this game … was just for our team to give 100% effort. That’s something that we focus on, that regardless of what the score looks like, that we are proud and proud to walk away from the game happy with our performance,” Cheltenham said.
To improve in the team skills, Cheltenham wants the team to continue to push themselves and give all their effort.
“We’ll just continue to work at putting in 100% effort. We ask our players to give 100% of themselves, 100% of the time.,” Cheltenham said. “So that’s what we’re going to continue to push on and focus on.”
FVHS varsity will be playing CdM again on September 30 at 5:45 and the team is looking forward to playing against them again.
