2 days Ago By By JOHN SANDERS Valley Press Sports Correspondent
LANCASTER — At times, both the Rosamond and Antelope Valley girls volleyball teams seemed relatively fatigued in their match at AV High. And expectedly so. Both teams had a treacherous weekend in which they played a ton of volleyball at the Cal City Tournament.
But it was the Roadrunners’ serving that helped propel them to a 25-8, 25-12, 25-21, victory against the Antelopes, Monday night, in a non-league match for both teams. “I thought we played well at first, but we need to learn to close out teams better,” Rosamond’s Nissa Vasquez said. Vasquez finished with a match-high eight aces to lead her team as the Roadrunners finished with 28 aces in all.
Kiley Perez finished with seven aces, while Lily Reeder added four. Aliyah Finch chipped in with three aces. Of the 10 rostered players for Rosamond (9-8-1), nine of those had at least one ace.
“We had pretty good energy throughout the match, but I think we got complacent in the third set. We felt like we could relax,” Vasquez said. “But it’s good to get the win.
We just need to keep it going from here.” The ’Lopes (1-22-1) played their best set of the match in the third. Rosamond got up by three points on three separate occasions early in the third set, 5-2, 8-5, and 11-8, however, each time AV High would respond to tie the score.
With the score tied, 11-11, the Roadrunners began to create separation after using a 5-0 run, including three consecutive aces by Reeder to take a 16-11 lead. After Reeder committed a service error, Rosamond promptly used another 5-0 run to hold a 21-12 lead. AV High showed its resiliency after trimming the lead to 21-17 and 24-21, with 5-0 and 4-0 runs, respectively, but the hole was too big to climb out of as Rosamond sealed the match following a hitting error by the ’Lopes.
“We got lazy there in the third set,” Perez said. “We thought we had them and once we saw we had them, we slowed down and played at their pace. How we played today, at times, is not how we should play moving forward.
We should’ve been more hyped coming in. We have to keep our energy up throughout the match no matter who we’re playing.” The second set was close early as Rosamond held a slim 5-4 lead, but the Roadrunners took control of the set following an 11-0 run, which was fueled by six aces during that stretch by Vasquez.
Rosamond closed the set with a 5-0 run to take a 2-0 lead. “Today, we could’ve done better. I guess it was not our day,” AV High’s Hailey Moya said.
“We have to pick things up and do better. I think we have to bond more as a team. I think we must trust each other and communicate more on the court.
We’re a good team, we just need to communicate better.” The Roadrunners got off to a fast start in the first set as three of their first six servers had at least one ace. Other than the first server of the set, Rosamond scored multiple points on its final seven servers, including closing with an 8-0 run off serves by Perez to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Those final eight points started with three consecutive kills, followed by five consecutive aces. Ariel Cain led the Roadrunners with six kills, while Reeder finished with five kills. Vasquez had three kills and Logan Castro finished with two kills.
“Things started off rough for us, but they got better in the third set,” AV High’s Melody Rivera said. “Some of us got in our own heads. I know I kept looking at the scoreboard.
I think some of us were overthinking. We just have to come out and have a good mindset.” Mesha White finished with three blocks and two kills for the ’Lopes.
Liz Velazquez and Kayley Franco each had two kills for AV High..
