On Thursday, Aug. 31, the girls volleyball team played against Oviedo and finished short in the match.  Oviedo won 3-1, but the match could have gone wither way.

The team started out rough, making plenty of mistakes and Oviedo was able to capitalize, winning the first match, 25-13. Although the first match was not close, hitters Leandra Mangual and Morgan Romano showed early signs of promise, scoring most of the 13 points.

We missed a couple rotations,” middle Sydney Conley said. “We are just going to have to practice it more so we don’t miss it the next game.”

The second match was closer than the first, with Oviedo winning 25-20. The game was tied at 19 until Oviedo went on a 6-1 run to win.

The team was down 2-0 in the match, but they were giving their best effort, with middle Audrey Douglas having over four kills in the match.

The team was able to bring on the momentum they were building up in the first two matches, allowing them to win the third, 25-19. The team put constant pressure on Oviedo which led to slip-ups. Like spikes not making it over the net, serves going out of bounds, and players falling into each other.

“We messed up a few times and [Oviedo] was able to capitalize on those mistakes,” Head coach Sarah Jarem said. “Other than that, I thought we were right in there with them.”

Entering the fourth match, Oviedo was leading 2-1, the team took an early 3-1 lead in the match and then a few errors gave Oviedo a 9-8 lead.

Kills and blocks from Conley and Romano bombarded Oviedo and tied the game at 22. Then Mangual had a clutch kill to put the team on top 24-23, but Oviedo would win 26-24.

This is only the team’s second loss of the season but since Oviedo is in a different classification, their playoff hopes are still up. The next home game is Wednesday, Sept. 13, against St. Cloud.

“This game showed us some things we need to work on,” Jarem said. “The girls gave all of the effort and next time we are going to come out and win.”