Lady Trojans lost their last game of the season to Cabrillo in five sets 25-30, 30-18, 30-25, 23-30, and 16-14 on Nov. 20.
     The first two sets of the game the Trojans seemed loose and ready to play against the Seahawks, looking for a sweep.
     “We had a slow start,” said Cabrillo Head Coach Gayle Stammer. “I made some adjustments on the court and as a coach, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work to your advantage. They just didn’t gel those first two sets.”
     The three remaining sets of the game were close. Every point counted, as each team wanted to try to get an advantage against the other team. During one point of the fourth set Cabrillo was up 21-11 and then Skyline came back with seven unanswered scores to cut the deficit to 21-18. The Seahawks countered with their own rally of points as they were up 22-20 against the Trojans, then scoring four straight points to lead 26-20. They ended up winning the fourth set 30-23.
     Trojans outside hitter Mariella Alberdi, who had 19 assists, 11 digs, and three kills, said that she thinks her team felt a bit overconfident and seemed to make some mistakes in the game.
     “I thought we had it won,” Alberdi said. “I don’t know what happened. We started losing the ball our hits started to go outside. I thought we were all hyped to win but it didn’t happen.”
     The Seahawks tried to get their points off the serves by sending the ball to outside hitter Tiarra Meyers in the game to try to come back.
     “[Tiarra] was trying hard,” Alberdi said. “They saw that she wasn’t getting to (the ball) so they kept on attacking her and targeting her.”
     The game was tied at two games apiece and going to the fifth set, the Trojan fans were cheering for them to come back and win their last game on a good note, and that seemed to spark them to win.
     “I think that was what kept us to get back in the game,” Alberdi said. “We were down the last two games but because of the crowd, it pumped us and whenever you hear the crowd, it makes you want to try harder.”
     Alberdi later added that she will miss the two sophomores Jackie Bartel and Lisa Lee because of the way they played , worked hard and were good people. Both Lee and Bartel played well as both of them were in double digits in digs with 20 and 23 respectively. Bartel had five aces and Lee had one. Bartel had 13 kills, while Lee had five.
     With a close played fifth set both teams wanted to win in a very exciting game.
     “That was tight,” said Cabrillo’s Tawnya Sargent. “I think that [Skyline] played really strong and it was a great matchup.”
     The Trojans ended their season losing their remaining 14 games dating back to their last victory Sept. 25 against City College. Their overall record is 2-14 and a conference record of 1-12.

Skyline downed by Ohlone
     Trojans women’s volleyball (2-13, 1-11) team was defeated by Ohlone (4-7 3-5) in five sets Nov.15, 14-30, 30-26, 23-30, 31-29, and 6-15.
     In the first set of the game Ohlone had three separate occasions where they racked up streaks of points that were six, seven, and eight. The most notable were the last two as the Renegade was up 8-7 against the Trojans then with a few good serves and breaks Ohlone was up 15-7. The final string came when it was 22-14 Ohlone, then ending up wining 30-14.
     “I think the team that gets the lead in the beginning has so much momentum and so much power over the other team,” said Ohlone’s outside hitter Brooke Hunter who led the team in kills with 19. “Because we are all happy and in their face and it’s real discouraging to hear the other side be real happy and your side not to be. I think that was the key in our success and we were fired up.”
     Another player that was instrumental in the Renegade’s victory was outside hitter Kehau Stancil. Along with good serving she lead her team with 27 digs.
     “Kehau is really aggressive,” Hunter said. “I will always have confidence in her when goes up in the front.”
     In the fourth set of the game with Ohlone up 29-26 and a point away from winning the game Trojans Jackie Bartel who lead the team in both digs and assists with 23 and 22 respectively served 5 straight points and lead the Trojans with 31-29 comeback to tie the game up at two apiece and send it to the fifth and final set. That gave the Trojans the momentum and might have taken the confidence away from Ohlone.
     “I think we just lost our focus,” Ohlone’s Erin Brewer said. “I think we came back focused in the next game. I don’t know how we fell apart. But once we got focused again we got back together.”
     Bartel’s serving during the season might have had its high and lows when it came to pressure serves. But in that fourth set she came up big.
     “I am famous for missing my serves in key times,” Bartel said. “So I was like ‘okay I am not going to miss this and I am going to serve it good at the same time’. I was really focused. I tried not to listen to anything and I really wanted it and it was time to do it.”
     With the Trojans tying the game at two sets apiece the Trojans tried to carry the momentum over to the fifth set to set up for a win in the game and maybe to the final game of the season.
     “Hopefully it would be nice if we could win our last match,” said Trojans assistant coach Nilo Mauricio. “At this point it doesn’t matter. We fully know we are out. But it’s better than ending your year on a losing note. It’s definitely a positive that we went five games.”
     The Trojans lost in three sets to San Jose City College 30-25, 30-19, and 30-26 Nov. 13. Even in defeat these three players had good games individually. Lily Bandong led the team in digs with 13 and Mariella was second on the team with 10. Jackie Bartel and Alberdi led the team in assists with 10 and 11 respectively. Traci Laeha led the team with five blocks and Bartel led the team with two service aces.