The Park University Gilbert women's volleyball team's (0-1) opening matchup against crosstown rival, Benedictine-Mesa (1-0), was slated to be a back-and-forth contest. The match lived up to expectations, but unfortunately, it ended with a 3-1 Redhawks win.
"We did not do a good job of minimizing our mistakes. Credit to BenU, they took advantage of all of our mistakes," head coach Clay Webb said. But if we keep our errors under control, I don't think personally there's any team that can beat us other than ourselves.
The Buccaneers came out firing in the first and arguably, most competitive set of the day. The Bucs found themselves down 22-20, but stormed back to win the match 28-26 behind one kill by Amanda Jonovich, two by Miranda Bacon and a series of service aces and attacking errors in their favor.
The Redhawks were able to put a fork in the Bucs' momentum from the get-go of the second set, winning it by seven points (25-18)- the biggest final match deficit of the day.
Although the next two sets went the way of the second, the Buccaneers stayed competitive in both of them. The Bucs benefited from three Redhawks offensive mishaps to score the first three points of the set and extended their lead to as many as four points before the Redhawks were able to regain momentum that carried them throughout the match and the fourth set, where they put away the Bucs.
Bacon led the way for the Bucs with 10 kills and 13 digs.
"Miranda Bacon brings experience to the court. She is just level-headed, cool, calm, collected all the time," Webb said. "It's the reason why she's our captain on the court because I know I can go to her and she's not going to be emotional in the moment."
The freshman Jonovich got her collegiate career off to a fast start; the five-foot-eight outside hitter added 10 kills of her own. Returning setter Jenifer Lauer notched a team-high 31 assists.
I think [Amanda's] got a lot of the intangibles and she's just not even close to hitting her peak yet," Webb said. We're still working with her, getting her acclimated to our system, so that way she can get better and better. You'll consistently see a better Amanda every game from here on out."
The Buccaneers have a chance to get back on the winning track this Friday, as they travel to Pasadena, Calif. to play Providence Christian College.
