Tarah Kelly—Corsair Sports Writer

September 21, 2015

The Santa Monica College Corsair women's volleyball team rallied against Saddleback Wednesday night for their fourth win of the season.

Coming into the game against Saddleback, the Corsairs had lost three straight away games; however, they would not let themselves slip in their first home game of the season.

Despite a rocky start and dropping in the first set 21-25, the Corsairs rebounded from their slow start to win the next three sets and claim a victory in their home opener.

As set two started, the Corsairs were down 6-11 when coach Nicole Ryan felt her team was falling too far behind and decided to call a timeout. It all changed from there.

During the timeout Coach Ryan motivated her team by explaining to them that they have made great progress so far this season and that they were already a much better team. The motivation must have resonated with the girls because they started playing some of the best volleyball of the season.

Coming out of that timeout early the second set, the Corsairs only lost a total of fourteen points spanning the rest of the second set and third set as they won 25-19 in the second set and ran away with the third set 25-6.

To start the third set, freshman Julia Parducci served the Corsair to a quick 5-0 three straight aces then one more giving the Corsairs a 5-0 lead.

A kill by the Corsairs would soon give them a 6-0 lead, forcing Saddleback to call a timeout.

"The product when we show what we can do is so much better than what we had showed in the first game," said coach Ryan.

The Corsairs would soon take a 15 point lead after winning twelve straight points. They would then close out the game 25-6.

Up two sets to one, the Corsairs were ready to fight their way into a victory. But, it wouldn't come as easy as the third set.

Saddleback came out strong in the fourth and took a 12-7 lead over the Corsairs early in the set. But the Corsairs were not ready to let the match go to a final, winner-takes-all set.

Santa Monica College surged back to take the lead 14-13 over Saddleback. From that moment on, Saddleback only registered two more points before SMC's McKenna Murphy closed out the set and match with 25-16 fourth set victory.

"I was just thinking; okay aggressive serves, just keeping them in and out of system," said Murphy.

With the win for the Corsairs, they improved to a record of four wins and three losses for the season.

"We learned a lot from the first game. How we lost and we just needed to keep up the momentum," said Murphy.