Girls volleyball came out with the win last night, sweeping Buena in three sets even with two girls recently injured.

On Tuesday, Oct. 3, the team played Ventura in what was a “big win” according to coach Megan O’Carroll, and Addie Low (11) rolled her ankle during the game, taking her out for the “foreseeable future.”

“We don’t know really what that treatment plan looks like, and that was a huge loss for us, because she is our offensive weapon,” O’Carroll said. “We go to her for everything. She [gets] lots of points for us, and so that was something we had to manage on Tuesday … Obviously, super disappointed to see her get hurt, but really exciting to see her teammates really step up and tell her, you know, ‘We have your back,’ and they were able to pick up those points by spreading it amongst everyone else.”

During warm ups before the game against Buena, Eleni Becker (11) collapsed with a quad injury, although they “are not really sure right now” what the injury is, according to O’Carroll.

“It’s been sore for a couple days, and I went up and jumped a hit during warm ups, and I kind of just collapsed, and it really hurt,” Becker said. “Emotionally [I’m] stressed, but I mean, it is what it is. Physically, it really hurts.”

The first set started out relatively even and an ace by setter and captain Halle Rillie (12) evened out the score to 4-4. Madeleine Curtis (12) came in with a kill off the block pushing the team farther into a lead of 7-5.

With a score of 8-5, Tanner Love (11) brought two aces in a row providing the Chargers with an additional lead.

When Rillie was forced to pass the ball in the first touch, middle blocker Grace Posey (11) set up Abby Pfarr (11) for a kill, quickly followed in the next play by a pipe kill by Jayden Jones (12) keeping the chargers up in the lead.

Buena called a timeout at 20-14. After the timeout, the girls won the next three points and an ace from Jones put the team to a score of 24-14. The first game point, with a serve by Jones, had a block from middle blocker Emma Polunets (12), but the girls did not come out with the point.

A kill by Polunets ended the first set with a score of 25-15.

“We always give out a hot tamale of the match, and that’s usually the player that either had a great game or they did something really noteworthy,” O’Carroll said. “And tonight we celebrate Emma Polunets … I just thought that she was really crucial for us tonight. In the middle, she’s getting up on a bunch of blocks and swinging on the ball. She was covering, she was all over the place.”

The second set started giving the Chargers a clear lead. With Curtis serving at 5-4, Rillie set Posey, but a dig by Buena continued the point. Further into the rally, Rillie set Posey once more and Posey got the kill, giving the team a lead of 6-4.

An ace from Curtis at 8-4 led to a timeout, requested by Buena.

A setter dump from Rillie, kill from Posey, and a block from Polunets in the next multiple rallies gave the girls a lead of 15-7.

A hit by Pfarr that Buena was unable to return got the girls a score of 23-18. With Ella Payne (12) up for the serve at game point of 24-18, Buena attempted to get the kill with an angle shot which went wide and out of bounds giving the Chargers the second set with a score of 25-18.

The third set also started off relatively even, until a one handed set by Rillie allowed Posey to hit and Buena, unable to return the ball, lost to point, giving the girls a lead of 4-3.

Later on in the game Maggie Squires (11) swings off a set by Rillie, coming off the block and out of bounds, making the score 13-8.

With a dig by Rillie and set by Love, a pipe kill from Jones added an additional point for the Chargers.

Two serves in a row by Atasha Black (12), one hitting the tape and falling into Buenas side of the court, pushed the game to a score of 21-11.

The last few points of the game, with Rillie up to serve, proved time for Polunets to have a single block leading to game point and an ace by Rillie to end the third set 25-13.

O’Carroll said that the team “played great” in the third set and really worked to play at a level that they’re “proud of.” Every girl on the team had the opportunity to play in this match and O’Carroll said she finds that “always fun.”

“Every single person played, every single person contributed,” O’Carroll said. “And I thought everyone played great, especially some of our players that don’t usually get as much playing time. I thought they really stepped up in a big way and took care of their job [and] were super steady out there.”