FREMONT – Ross volleyball coach Lindi Cahill implored her team to make the most of its opportunities Tuesday night.
And in terms of winning the match, the Lady Giants did just that – winning 3-1 by scores of 25-16, 25-14, 20-25, 25-13. But from the standpoint of individually playing consistently point-in and point-out, that needed a little work.
“We didn’t play with a lot of intensity or focus throughout the match,” Cahill said. “We played everybody tonight, which is a good thing, but one of the things we’re talking about a lot is when you get your chance on the floor, no matter where you are, you have to make the most of it. We had kids play a couple different positions tonight and I’m not sure they made the most of it sometimes.
“But we saw some good things too, and it was a win, so we’ll take that big positive.”
Ross had an advantage in athleticism and skill, but did not take advantage of those attributes in the early-going when Cahill called timeout tied 10-10 in the first set.
After the timeout, Ross took 10 of the next 11 points on its way to winning Set 1 25-16.
“What I said to them was ‘You’ve got your chance, make the most of it,’” Cahill said. “I didn’t feel like we were doing anything to put Start in a position to play hard. We were playing sloppy, lazy ball. And we challenged them to pass it a little cleaner, hit it a little shaper and they responded.”
Ross’ response lasted into the Set 2, where the Lady Giants opened up a 13-2 lead. But as Cahill started to rotate more players onto the court, Ross’ intensity sagged. Though the Lady Giants won the set, the rest of the set was evenly played, 12-12.
Mia Boda
Start then won the third set, 25-20, outscoring Ross 11-6 after the game was tied at 14.
“I think a little bit of it was I played everyone and so the chemistry is a little different,” Cahill said. “They’re used to playing around certain people and you get comfortable with what those people can do. I changed the lineups a little bit and I changed responsibilities a little bit, and you could tell. It wasn’t clean or as sharp and people hesitated like they were waiting for others to make a play instead of big aggressive.”
Set 4 started close as well, as Ross and Start traded points until the score was 6-6. Ross then scored nine of the next 10 points to pull away and closed out the match, 25-13.
While it wasn’t the Lady Giants finest match, Cahill did see some positives.
“I think Mia Boda played really well tonight,” Cahill said. “She played a lot of back row tonight for Hayley Lawrence and she did her job. She went in and served really well, she received serve well, I would say Mia and Emily (Stotz) both need to be more aggressive defensively, but I thought Mia did a good job when she got her chance.”
The Lady Giants are not 4-6 overall on the season and travel to St. Ursula Thursday.