SF State’s women’s volleyball team started off day one of the 2017 West Region Showcase with a loss in their tournament opener against Biola University.
“There were a lot of errors,” said Matt Hoffman, head coach of the team. “We didn’t play a clean game of volleyball out there; we didn’t execute our scouting report.”
Even though Hoffman said the team didn’t play the game they planned, the first set was a 22-25 set loss and the Gators won the second set in thrilling fashion at 26-24. It all fell apart in the final two sets, though, losing each by double digits at 25-13 and 25-15.
Biola would take the first win against the Gators 3-1.
The team took another blow losing freshman Drew Morris to injury during the second set. Morris was helped off the court due to an ankle injury and was benched the rest of the game after the trainer wrapped and iced her ankle. Hoffman had no update on her health after the game.
Freshman Cassandra Fong led the Gators in assists with 24, helping total the team at 35 assists for the match.
“I wanted to make a difference and I wanted to hype my team up, so I tried to set my hot hitters as much as possible,” she said.
Although Fong had a great game, she said the team’s efforts still fell short.
“My sets were predictable (in the final two sets) so it was easy to read me,” Fong said. “We didn’t start the match out well, we were a little bit baffled, we could’ve executed our individual skills better and we could’ve stepped up and played as a team better. We could’ve played our game because that wasn’t our game at all.”
The match loss is the second of their season, but Hoffman said he is focusing not on the win-loss record, but instead on the next game.
With all the teams in the tournament playing one game today, Gators players had the opportunity to scout their opponents, but senior Christine Johnson said that is up to the coaches.
“We try to focus on our side of the net and let the coaching staff do the scouting on the other teams and focus on what we are doing,” Johnson said.
The best thing the lady Gators feel to take on their next two games tomorrow is rest.
“We need to come back fresh and energized,” Johnson said.
