COD Women’s Volleyball rolls to a sweep of the Huskies, 3-0

COD (3-1) has yet to find out what life is like beyond the third set as they collected their third sweep of the season, with the victim being the East Los Angeles Huskies (3-1), 25-12, 25-18 and 25-21.

The game off to an interesting start, as the original start time of the contest was pushed back 30 minutes due to the Huskies running into difficult traffic conditions in getting to the Coachella Valley, but once the game started it was all Desert, through the first set and a half.

In the first set, Desert dominated the Huskies. Three East Los Angeles errors led to Roadrunners points within the first six serves, whether it was the lengthy drive or the rushed warm-up, Desert was clearly ready to play and the Huskies were not.

As Desert held to an 11-7 lead, an East Los Angeles hitting error led to an absolute collapse in the middle of the set, as the Roadrunners rolled to their longest streak of the season so far, when they heaped on a 12-1 run, bolstered by a 10-0 run. During the 10-0 run, sophomore setter Ashtyn Lyneis (Palm Springs H.S.) had four service aces. After the game, Lyneis commented about the run, "I was just thinking, 'no mercy,' I just could not let them have any point. I was thinking everyone do everything that they can, but I knew that I was the one serving , so it started off with me and I just needed to give it to them and see what they could do with it."

Even though the Huskies did push the envelope a little bit on the back side of the first set, the Roadrunners won, set one, 25-12.

The first half of set two, was a completely different game as Desert built a 7-2 lead and then East Los Angeles, got it to 7-6 and the game was on. The Roadrunners added two more points, the Huskies would add two more points, with the game eventually getting tied at 11-11. With Desert going on a 10-4 run to pull away, but not quite. The Roadrunners would win the set, 25-18.

The third set, truly showed how strong East Los Angeles could be, but the Roadrunners were ready to repel the Huskies onslaught. Desert immediately built a 3-0 lead, then the Huskies rolled to a 4-3 lead, and as the game went back-and-forth the Roadrunners called their first time out of the entire match, as they were down 9-6. It was a great time out, because within 11 serves, the game was tied at 13-13 and within a few more serves, Desert took their first lead since early in the match (3-2), when they went up 15-14.

The set would be tied again at 19-19 and after a huge kill by freshman outside hitter Kelsey Smith (Delta, BC South Delta Secondary) and an East Los Angeles error, the Huskies called their first time out, with Desert up 21-19.

Ironically, the last time your Roadrunners defeated East Los Angeles, which was in 2014, was at home and in a sweep, 26-24, 25-21 and 26-24. Desert has a 4-7 record all-time against the Huskies, with all four wins coming in the friendly confines of Palm Desert. Sophomore middle blocker Nicole Svoboda (La Quinta H.S.) would have three of her ten kills in three of the final four points scored by Desert, including match-point.

Svoboda commented after the match about being an offensive threat at the middle blocker position, "As a middle, my job is draw their blockers into the middle and so they have to account for me not just the outside hitters. So, even when I'm not getting set, it allows for them to stay with me and so when I do go up and I hit, I look for the blockers drawn to me, whether they're out and that helps determine where I hit the ball."

Lyneis led the team with 43 assists, had 6 service aces and had 8 digs and Smith led the team with 16 kills, had 7 digs and had a block assist.

Svoboda had 10 kills and led the team with a solo block and sophomore outside hitter Baylie Dashner (La Quinta H.S.) had 12 kills and had 2 service aces.

Sophomore libero Emily Sundback (Rancho Mirage H.S.) led the team with 15 digs and freshman opposite Kendal Campbell (White Rock, BC Semiahmoo Secondary) had 3 kills and had 5 digs.

The next game for COD is on the road as they travel to the Rams Quad at Victor Valley College this Friday, September 7. The next home game for the Roadrunners is Wednesday, September 12 against the Chaffey Panthers of Rancho Cucamonga at 5:30 p.m.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.

Information & Story provided by COD Sports Information. Photo by Michael Leone Photography (f8leone@yahoo.com)