Rams Women’s Volleyball Capture Their First Win of the Season
By Kyra Young
The women’s volleyball team secured their first victory of the season against Columbia College and suffered a loss to Mendocino College after hosting a tri-match on Friday afternoon at the Wellness Center Gym.
The Rams squad enters the 2024 season with unique circumstances. The team is equipped with all first-year players and a new coaching squad composed of head coach Darlene Klemens and assistant coach Josh Jung – both coaching at the collegiate level for the first time.
The Rams struggled to find their groove in their first five-set match versus Columbia and fell 18-25 and 20-25 in the first two sets. Despite the tough start, the team kept morale high and battled into the third set, where something suddenly clicked. They started to play with a newfound sense of grit and chemistry in the third set, sending Columbia into disarray. Amidst the scatter, the Rams found the gaps in their opponent’s defense and responded quickly to their attacks, securing a tight 25-22 win in the third and a 25-17 win in the fourth.
By the fifth set, the match became a point-for-point battle, but the Rams held the momentum. Maintaining a tight lead, the squad secured a 15-11 win, and the Rams walked away from Columbia with their first victory of the season and a final score of 3-2.
Captain and outside hitter, Mary Shunashi Hernandez-Elorza led the team with 17 kills and 24 digs alongside libero Maliah Trinidad, who also recorded 24 digs for the match. Setter Maihli Hunkin totaled 16 digs on the defensive end of the court with a team-best 25 assists.
Klemens, who is also the club director for 650 Xtreme Volleyball Club in San Mateo and has coached club volleyball for over 20 years, noted that the novelty of it all has made for a challenging start to the season. With no returning players from the previous year, the team has been primarily built by campus outreach and recruitment.
“I think … It’s hard to get freshmen on campus enough already,” Klemens said. “On top of that, recruiting to play volleyball for the collegiate level can be intimidating for a lot of students. They just might not know they’re good enough to play at this level, the college level.”
Ensuring everyone met their eligibility requirements also took some time and prevented the girls from playing together sooner.
Despite these hurdles, Klemens gave credit to the girls she has today. “They’re holding their own and doing well. We had a slow start today, but the girls pulled it off and came together to play as a team. It feels great.”
She added that by next week, several new freshman players may be joining the squad after they complete their eligibility processes. With so many fresh contributing factors, the season ahead is proving itself to be a determinative one.
Jung also acknowledged the newness of it all. “It’s interesting – they’re all playing with each other for the first time, so there’s a lot of getting used to each other. But we always try to tell the girls that every point is a new point, regardless of what happened to those before.”
Hernandez-Elorza was proud of the squad for their first win but acknowledged the need to keep the pressure up for their next match. “We could’ve started stronger, but I think we were a little comfortable and it caught us off guard, putting us down. But in the end, we needed to turn it up and put that pressure on the other team and we did.
“I’m hoping we can start off strong in the next game. Hopefully, we can tune back into how we just played in those last three sets and push the team on the right foot from the start,” said Hernandez-Elorza.
Hunkin and Aasia Wiley, a middle blocker, both agreed that the team’s hard work in practice paid off in the first match. “It felt good to go out there and play our hearts out with a different team, new people… we’re learning what everyone is capable of. It’s been fun so far,” said Wiley.
“We’ve had our ups and downs in the little time we’ve played together. Connecting and getting to know each other takes time,” said Hunkin. “But I think we’re good with how we’ve started. Everybody comes every day, everybody wants to be here, and that just shows how much we really want to play,” said Hunkin.
The Rams had only a short turnaround before a tough game versus Mendocino College, where the Rams went on to close the day’s action with a 0-3 loss to the Eagles by scores of 25-16, 25-18, and 25-13.
City College, now 1-4 overall, will face College of the Siskiyous on Wednesday, September 4 at 5 p.m. in the CCSF Wellness Center Gym.