Men’s volleyball falls to Elk Grove in five sets
By Roland Li,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
In its rematch against Elk Grove, the Davis High men’s volleyball team closely lost in a close five-setter on Thursday, April 14.
In the first set, the Blue Devils fell to Elk Grove 18-25. Missed blocks and passes plagued the team throughout the set.
In the next set, Davis was down 20-13. However, better communication and offensive plays allowed the team to obtain the 26-24 second set win.
After the break, the home team’s momentum dissipated, allowing the Thundering Herd to capitalize on the struggling Devils’ mistakes. Elk Grove came out dominant, pulling an 8-25 win in the third set.
However, senior Nick Simmons still maintained a positive attitude.
“Never for a second did I think we were going to lose,” Simmons said.
Simmons’ mentality and leadership helped the Blue Devils regain their lost momentum, leading to a 25-16 win in set four. Juniors Mitch Gladding and Sam Goidell played major roles near the end of the set. Gladding’s blocks and Goidell’s serves enabled the team to score seven straight points to finish off the set.
“My goal is to help the team in every way I can, whether it’s on the bench getting the hype going or getting aces on the court,” Goidell said. “I put in the work that needed to be done.”
In the end, Davis was unable to get the final set, losing 10-15. Simmons felt on the team’s performance could be improved to prevent future losses.
“We definitely played well, but not good enough,” he explained. “We could’ve beaten them, but because of errors that we’ve been making all season, we lost in five sets to this team again.”
Coach Liz Serra-Hsu views the loss as an incident that will help the team notice its mistakes and improve the team’s performance in future matches.
“Every single loss is a learning opportunity,” Serra-Hsu said. “From this game, we need to ask ourselves, ‘how do we become a mentally tougher team?’ [and] ‘how do we focus and regain our composure after losing a couple points?’”
