City College Panthers hosted the Diablo Valley Vikings and won all three rounds of volleyball to push their overall record to 13-12 on Wednesday Oct. 25, led by game leaders Abby Shackelford, Lydia Rider, and Tara Benkowski.
The Panthers players were vocal throughout the competition from their preparation of the game to the end result. From the moment the ball was in the air, the team communicated to each other yelling, “I got it! I got it!” to let the rest of the team know that the ball was coming to them. The sideline was also vocal, cheering on the rest of the team as they waited patiently to get on the court.
While the Vikings scored the first point of the competition, the Panthers worked quickly to get on the board moments later, and won their first match 25-20.
In the beginning of the second period, Panthers scored twice, and moments later Vikings added two points to their score to tie the game at two apiece. As the Panthers were on a 12-6 run, the Vikings used their first timeout in the middle of the second period.
The Vikings were catching up with a score of 14-12, but City College came back out and scored another point as the Vikings hit the ball out of bounds. Diablo Valley used their last timeout as the score was 21-17, then came out on a roll scoring twice. The second round concluded with a final score of 25-19.
Panthers scored first to open the third and final period, and again seconds later to bring the score up 2-0. In the middle of the third, 15-9, City College came out scoring twice, and won the last match with 25-18.
“I am very proud and happy for the team as a whole for tonight. I was very impressed offensively and defensively,” said head coach Laurie Nash. “I want to try to finish this season strong to make the conference playoffs with our remaining games. From the attitude and confidence I have seen from the team tonight, I do believe we can still make it.”
City College center/opposite hitter and 19-year-old nursing major Abigail Shockelford explained what the team did to take home a win. “I feel that I played very well, myself and the team was very energetic and very prepared tonight, we came in very vocal and we came out with a win,” she said.
Jayla Somera, Panthers setter/right side hitter and 19-year-old business major commented, “[We] did very well, [we were] very vocal as a team with so much energy from everyone.”
When asked about their next opponent and division rival, the Cosumnes River College Hawks, Nash explained her expectations, “I am going in expecting a win after all the confidence that I saw from this team tonight, the last time we played the Hawks, they came out victorious because we weren’t ready mentally or offensively, but now I do feel this time it will be a different outcome and this time we will be ready.”
“Cosumnes is a big rival for us, the last time we saw Cosumnes they did get the victory,” said Shockelford, adding, “This time it will be a different outcome for I do have a huge chip on my shoulder from the last time we played and I am pretty sure the other girls on this team do too. This time, I am looking to go in there strong and hard and come out victorious.”
On the team’s next opponent, Somera commented, “I am very excited to play Cosumnes and I do feel we will do very well to go in there and come out victorious.”
The Panthers ended up with a win at the Hawks court on Friday, Oct. 27. The ending breakdown was 29-27 in the first period, 25-18 in the second, and 25-19 in the third, with big plays by Lydia Rylander and Shackelford.
The Panthers fell short in their four most recent matches per the team’s page on the Panther’s site.
City College will now focus on the NorCal Regionals, starting on Saturday, Nov. 18, at a location still unspecified. City College is currently sitting at a 14-16 overall record.
