In another game on their continued path of dominance, the Mesa College Women’s Volleyball team swept Southwestern College 3 sets to 0, on September 23rd.
The dominance started early. With the score down 2-1 in the beginning of the first set, Mesa came rushing forward, going on a five point streak, highlighted by Breanna Separa-Agustin’s 18 “DIGS” as well as three serve attempts. “She’s one of our strongest servers. She’s our libero. And so she’s our defensive specialist, and she does really exceptionally well and everything that that position requires” says Coach Bobbie Jo Stall. In addition, Isabella Bakken came through in the defensive clutch, getting three shot blocks and three DIGS. “We have a lot of good kids doing a lot of good things really consistently. And that’s why we are where we are,” Coach Stall said. Mesa won the first set 25-15.
The next 2 sets were much the same. An all around offense, coupled with a strong defense,. allowed the MesaOlympians to take double digit leads early on. Coach Stall feels that this is a great reflection of the team. “I think with this team, defense would probably be more of a strength of ours. And then our offense is more well rounded and well balanced. But it’s not just like one or two dominant people. Everybody chips in and does a good job. Offensively, I’d say we’re efficient, but really good defensively” added Stall. The Olympians won the two remaining sets 25-11 and 25-10, completing the sweep.
This match also had a Celebrity guest when the President of San Diego Mesa College, Ashanti Hands, paid a visit during the first set. She then proceeded to stay for the rest of the match, sitting in the bleachers with the rest of the audience at first, then being invited to sit at the scoring table between the first and second sets, all the while chatting with members of the Mesa Athletic department for the remainder of the match. “I think it’s beyond impressive. I think they’re tremendous in terms of teamwork. I love the way they support one another. And it’s also nice seeing them around campus doing their thing, in the classroom as well, ” President Hands said. When asked about whether she was a casual or hardcore fan of Volleyball, the president said “I really got to be able to connect with some of the women during the Olympian Olympics event that we had at the beginning of semester. And so that personal connection took it from casual to a little more active.”
The Olympians will have their next big challenge, on September 30th, when Mesa College travels to play Grossmont College, who is ranked 12th in the state at the community college level. Coach Stall will make sure that the team is ready. Stall says “that’s always a big rival game for us. We have a bye on Wednesday and we’ll have a long week to prep for them, which is a plus for us. We’re gonna prepare for them. We’re gonna do everything that we can to get these girls ready, physically, mentally, emotionally so that we can take care of the resistance against that team.”

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Aaron Luna

Sofia De La Cruz (4) and Sophia Jarosz (21) prepare for Southwestern's serve, by directing the position to block

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Aaron Luna

Coach Bobbie Jo Stall addresses the team during a timeout in the second set.