The Pirate volleyball team played North Bend at home on Oct. 3.
According to head coach Tammie Montiel, they had high hopes of winning and felt ready.
“A little bit of redemption, because none of us felt we gave it our best effort when we played them over at North Bend,” Montiel said. “We were looking for the redemption and showing North Bend the team that they saw over there is not the Marshfield team to expect.”
Sophomore libero Makenna Anderson said they had high hopes for the game in order to achieve their season goal of winning a league title.
“Before the game, our goals were to take them out in three, but that didn’t happen. We came out and took them in four,” Anderson said. “Which is still good because we lost to them in three.”
According to Anderson, they made adjustments from the last time they played North Bend in preparation for the game.
“We made defensive adjustments there, but I tend to focus more on what we can do on our side versus what the other team is going to do,” Montiel said.
Anderson said seeing the big student section made her happy and she appreciated everyone dressing up and cheering. Anderson said when the crowd is big, it helps them, especially when the student section is lively.
Junior Parker Stocker was in the student section for the rival game.
“I think it honestly makes the players do better because nobody is going to want to go to their game and not have anyone cheer for them,” Stocker said. “It makes them pumped.”
Stocker and Anderson said they saw the bigger student section positively affect how the Pirates played.
According to Montiel, the pirates were on fire during the first and second sets. Montiel said they were competing well defensively and were upsetting the Bulldogs. Montiel said the team chemistry was strong for those first two set. The first set score was 25-12 and the second set score was 25-16. Montiel said the pirates relaxed and made some mistakes during the third set, leading to frustration and unwanted results. According to Montiel, that has been a struggle all season they are working to correct. The third set score was 19-25. The fourth set score was 25-19 and the Pirates came out on top.
“That’s something we will continue to work on, but I was proud of them for coming back in the fourth set,” Montiel said. “Especially when it was neck and neck, point wise, to really take over at the end of the game.”
