Coyotes comeback falls short in final home match

Eduardo Miranda

The Daily Independent

Cerro Coso volleyball hosted San Bernardino Valley for the final home match of the season, which was also Sophomore Night for the Coyotes. Before the match began, Cerro Coso celebrated its three sophomore players: Lexi Higer, Brooke Murphy, and Emma Gonzalez.

Head coach James Belluscio said about his sophomore players, "it's been great to get to know them as people. It's been great to have the opportunity to coach them. They gave a lot of effort into this program, and I thank them for that. Obviously, we wanted to send them out with a victory, but it was a pleasure coaching them, and they will go on to do great things in life, hopefully they all get into a four-year. I'll always be here to support them and be their coach. I'll truly miss all three of them."

After the celebrations, the Coyotes and Wolverines took the court for an Inland Empire Athletic Conference match. The Coyotes fought against the conference runners-up but could not complete the comeback and fell in three sets 25-18, 26-24, and 25-19.

Belluscio said on his team's performance, "disappointing, but some really cool things. We fought back late in sets, but we dug ourselves a little bit in a hole with errors. The crowd was great today, and appreciate everybody coming out. You just can't dig yourself that deep a hole in set against good teams, and they are a good team and fundamentally strong. We showed we can play with them when we gain some confidence, but then again, like the errors early in sets hurt us, and that's something we need to grow from for next season."

The Coyotes finished with 33 kills from 91 attempts but committed 20 errors and had 28 assists. They had four aces with two serving errors, six reception errors, and 33 digs. They had four solo blocks, two assisted blocks, and four blocking errors.

Jiana Alcaraz-Carter and Kori Phillips led the team with nine kills each. Isabella Chavez, Higer, Murphy, and Jasmine Seeraj all had an ace. Chavez had 23 assists. Seliah Smith had 12 digs. Alcaraz-Carter had all four solo blocks with Phillips and Higer with an assisted block each.

In the first set against San Bernardino Valley, Cerro Coso lost 25-18. The Coyotes kept the set close in the beginning with a block from Alcaraz-Carter tying it at 2-2. After a kill and an assisted block from Phillips, the Coyotes trailed 6-4, but the visiting team went on a run to extend the deficit to 10-6.

San Bernardino Valley continued to extend its lead over the Coyotes, but a Higer kill cut the deficit to five at 20-15. After the Wolverines scored, Cerro Coso scored the next three points with a block and kill from Alcaraz-Carter to trail 21-18. But the visiting team scored the next four points to take the first set.

In the second set, the Coyotes made a run but fell short in a 26-24 loss. The Coyotes fell behind 20-10. The two teams traded points with the Coyotes trailing 24-17 after kills from Phillips and Higer. With the Wolverines a point away from winning the set, the Coyotes went on a 7-0 run backed by the cheering crowd.

During the run, the Coyotes made defensive digs to control kill attempts and forced the Wolverines into making errors. After tying the set at 24-24, the Coyotes gave the lead to the visitors on a serving error. The final point came on a kill from the Wolverines.

The third and final set had the Coyotes fall 25-19. The Coyotes took an early 6-4 lead behind kills from Alcaraz-Carter and Phillips. But the visitors came back, and after a kill from Murphy the set was tied at 7-7. Both teams traded points, and after an Alcaraz-Carter kill, the Coyotes trailed 11-10. But the visitors went on the score the next five points to take a commanding lead.

Trailing 16-10, the Coyotes continued to fight back but were unable to make a run. The Coyotes fell behind 20-12 and made a final run with kills from Chavez, Higer, Alcaraz-Carter, and Murphy to cut the deficit to six, 22-16. After San Bernardino Valley scored to take a 24-16 lead, the Coyotes scored the next four points before falling to the Wolverines.

Cerro Coso, currently 10-13 overall (3-6 IEAC), finishes the season on the road facing Victor Valley on Friday in a rematch of a five-set Coyote win on Oct. 22. Belluscio said on the final game, "we had a wild match with Victor Valley, and I would pin them as our rival. Obviously, we want to respond and win and sweep them on the season."

The Cerro Coso coach looked ahead to the next season with the possibility of having nine sophomores next season. He spoke on what he wants his players to take from this season.

"Some of the things we have to hone in on is the preparation piece as well as the recovery piece. It's something we have gotten better at over the year, but we were kind of playing eight ball early on because these girls had to learn. Unfortunately, as you can see, most of them were wrapped up right now and dealing with injuries because we were behind the eight ball with that," Belluscio said.

"We have to learn how to be mentally stronger; that is the hardest thing for athletes, especially in volleyball, where it is such a stop-and-go momentum sport. You have to be mentally strong and you have to not let errors get to you. Our team has been up and down because at moments where we are high, we are really high. And when we are low, we are really low. Just staying a little more maintained and level-headed in big moments is going to be key for us next year, and I think that will happen with time and experience."