After starting the season with a 6–1 record, the HP girls volleyball team looked to have strong momentum heading into league play. But after three consecutive losses, the team was forced to reflect on what went wrong. Since then, the team has responded with wins over South Gate and Legacy, giving them a chance to regain the momentum they had at the beginning of the season.
Strong Start Turns to Struggles
“I think we just had the confidence coming in after summer practice,” said Outside Jasmine Lemus. “We had put so much effort into summer practice and that really paid off.”
Assistant coach Mr. Rodriguez agreed, pointing to the team’s work during the spring and summer as a major reason for the strong start.
“I think all that warm-up and practice that they did in spring and then summer, it helped out a lot,” Rodriguez said.
This confidence helped the team get off to a strong start, but Lemus believes the team eventually became too comfortable.
“I feel like we just got too comfortable with where we were at,” Lemus said. “We just lowered our standards.”
The Losing Streak
After the 6–1 start, the team lost three straight games. According to Lemus, communication became one of the biggest issues.
“Not looking at the ball and knowing where we go,” Lemus said. “Like our subs, you need to know where you go in. There’s a lot of people not paying attention. That’s why a lot of people get confused.”
“After a mistake, even the simplest mistake, we would get into our head and we struggled to recover from that,” said Defensive Specialist Malorie Ochoa. “For example, after each play if a mistake was made we were yelled at, and that’s what affected a lot of players.”
Rodriguez believes the team’s biggest problem was its inability to close out games. In several losses, HP had opportunities to win before allowing opponents to come back.
“I think it’s just closing, like closing out the teams,” Rodriguez said. “I think closing out early is very important.”
Head coach Mr. Garcia also identified passing as an important issue during the losses.
“Passing errors contributes to free balls, and free balls, if you’re playing a good team, they’re going to come back and hit on you,” Garcia said.
Trying to Respond
Despite the losing streak, the team recognized what needed to change. Lemus said players discussed their concerns in the team group chat and wanted to bring those ideas to the coaching staff.
“We have been discussing that, like in our group chats, and then today we’re hopefully gonna talk to our coach about it,” Lemus said. “Hopefully we can do new drills in practice and maybe do harder stuff in practice.”
“We all hope as a team, I hope, we start doing more defensive drills at practice,” said Ochoa. “As well as running a rotation wit more defense players.”
One area the team has focused on is defense.
“Right now we’re all trying to improve on our defense,” Lemus said. “Me included.”
“Currently the teams goal is to improve our defense, especially me as thats my main job,” Ochoa said.
Garcia said practices have also become more focused on the mental side of the game.
“It’s just more, more trying to get more of a mental practice,” Garcia said. “It has to be, you have to be thinking a little bit more. We’re working together a little bit more.”
Rodriguez said Coach Garcia also adjusts practices based on what the team needs after each game.
“After every game, win or lose, there’s always something we work on,” Rodriguez said.
Looking Forward
Although the losing streak exposed areas the team needs to improve, the coaches still believe the team has the ability to compete. Garcia said the team’s main goal is to focus on the present rather than looking too far ahead.
“One point at a time,” Garcia said. “You can’t go any further.”
Rodriguez believes the team’s strong start was not a fluke and that the players’ work during the offseason prepared them to compete.
“I wouldn’t call it a fluke,” Rodriguez said. “I think all that practice and work that the team put in was phenomenal.”
For Lemus, the next few games are a chance for the team to show what it can do.
“That we’re not a weak team,” Lemus said. “We have a lot of good hitters, and I believe in our defense. We just lack games because we get scared for some reason. Because in practice, we do good.”
“Our new model is one point at a time, and that’s how they play, for one point, and we end up, we’ve been ending up in good games,” said Coach Garcia.
By Diego Gomez, Staff Writer