FREMONT – There is never a good time to be without two key players.
But being shorthanded when a league power like St. Ursula comes to town, is certainly less than ideal.
With Haley Lawrence nursing an ankle injury and Brooklyn Baptista out with illness, the Lady Giants’ volleyball team struggled to mount consistent offense in a three-set sweep at the hands of the Arrows, losing by scores of 25-16, 25-11, 25-7.
Despite their personnel short-comings, Kari Shull told her team beforehand the Lady Giants wouldn’t make excuses.
“I talked to the kids about this last night at practice that when we played Lima, I thought we walked in there like, ‘Oh, it’s Lima, we’re going to get a win,’ and maybe St. Ursula rolls in that way, maybe they don’t,” Shull said. “But, at the end of the day, they’re still going to show up to play and so do we. For me, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the court, it’s a jersey and a girl. I can’t control what they do but I can control what happens on my court and that’s what we have to be in control of, and we couldn’t.”
The Lady Giants were beset by problems passing the ball consistently. Without regular passes, offense was hard to come by.
“I swapped out the libero every single set and it just didn’t matter,” Shull said. “I couldn’t get consecutive passes out of anybody, individually or as a team.
“When we strung a nice pass and a nice set together, we had some great swings and some kills. But it just wasn’t going to happen (consistently).”
Ross falls to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in the TRAC. The Lady Giants are back in action Saturday afternoon when they host Oak Harbor and Carey, beginning at 1 p.m.