Volleyball drops close division match

Randall Theil
Sports Editor

The women’s volleyball team lost a closely contested match against Highline community college on Friday.

“We need to win this match and the next one to get a spot in the playoffs,” Head coach Mike Lee said before the match.

This loss puts Clark in fourth place in the NWAACC western standings with a record of 5-6- a record that would give them a playoff berth in the southern division.

The match opened on a strident note. Clark players ran drills while Highline looked on.

Sophomore Alyssa Hernandez set up a ball and Jessica Scovell spiked it into the other court while “Let the bodies hit the floor” played out over the overhead speakers.

The last home match of the season was greeted with a special ceremony before the start. Each of the Sophomores on the team was lauded with a short speech from Lee and a bouquet. The festivities soon ended, though and the contest began. Hernandez prepared to serve the first ball. “Let’s go Clark, whoop them…” a supporter called out from the stands.

The first period started ominously, however. The first serve was hit out of bounds and Highline’s crack shooters fired volleys through Clark’s mid-court defense. One ball sent Freshman Alivia Fields flipping end over end in her effort to catch it. Highline built up a four point lead early. As they gained momentum, they came together with a deep vocalized “whoooom!” after points scored.

The penguins settled down and made back some of the gap off of a series of serves by Fields. Highline maintained a significant lead for the rest of the first game. Trailing by six points, Clark’s April Dobrinski served a ball hard into Highline’s court. It was saved by Jennifer Mooth, who dominated the match for the Thunderbirds with 24 recorded kills.

The ball was passed forward by Davina Fuiava and shot into Clark’s court by Ashley Nguyen. Sophomore Penguin Nicole Gross saved the ball and put it back over the net, and again Mooth and Fuiava combined to send it back, this time for good. The match sustained many long battles back and forth across the net, as Clark struggled to penetrate the coordinated and efficient Highline defense.

Although the Clark women cut Highline’s lead to two, the Thunderbirds were still able to clinch the first game on a pass from Mooth to Fuiava.

While the first game was wrapping up, the audience was treated to a performance by Oswald, Clark’s mascot, along with Sophomore men’s basketball player Louis Barnum. They combined to cheer on the Clark players and fuel the crowd in the increasingly dense bleachers.

As their antics became more distracting through the course of the match, Highline coach Chris Littleman became aggravated, complaining to the referee “You’ve got to tell them to stop this,” and shaking his head so hard that his backwards baseball cap shook. “Nothing like school spirit,” Barnum said during a break.

The second game started, like the first, with Highline taking an early lead, but this time Clark wasn’t lagging behind. Dobrinski connected with Freshman Shayla Dahl to tie it up, and soon after Clark took it’s first lead of the match. Dobrinski was an effective defender for Clark. The tallest player on the team, she also plays basketball in the winter.

The matched rose in intensity as it wore on. Each team had the playoffs on the line, and players were taking hard dives for balls, shooting them so hard that they hit the rafters and the roof several times during the match. Fields, Hernandez and Freshman Penguin Leina Buchanan combined for the score to win Clark the second match.

The third period opened with a reversal of fortunes, with Clark taking the lead out of the gate and keeping it throughout the match. The Penguins’ front line really came alive for the third match. Hernandez, Buchanan and Scovell combined for several excellent saves and blocks, stymieing Highline’s offensive rhythm.

Justine Tabor showed her skills in the third match, making several difficult saves and slamming the ball into Highline’s court. Clark developed a seven point lead, which was whittled down but not erased as the match came to a conclusion. The crowd reached a fever pitch as the referee made a close out of bounds call on Clark, but the Penguins recovered in the next play to win the third match 25-22.

The Penguins entered the fourth game looking to end the match, but they could not maintain their positive momentum, and Highline’s efficient defensive maneuvers continued to frustrate them. Although Sophomore Tracie Garrison, one of the stars of Clark’s offense throughout the season, continued to produce kills and Hernandez and Fields continued to make difficult saves and set up shots, Clark’s offensive production dropped significantly during the fourth period, and Highline picked up the slack. The Thunderbirds were able to win the fourth game 25-17, and tie up the match at two games each.

Highline drew first blood in the final match, but Clark was not far behind. As the crowd reached a fever pitch, so too did the players. Tabor dove and then slid across the polished floor, sprawling out to return a shot by Highline, and Clark took the lead at 5-4. As the clock struck nine, every strike of the ball was answered by a wall of sound from the crowded bleachers. Clark extended their lead, but the Highline players didn’t lose their composure. Thunderbird Nguyen shot the ball past Tabor, who slapped the court with her hands as she got to her feet. The score was then tied at 12-12. All of the players seemed keyed completely into the match at this point. Fields side-stepped a fast ball without flinching or looking behind her, letting it sail out of bounds without comment, but that one point lead disappeared the next play.

The match ended without a bang. With the score at 13-14, a Thunderbird sent a volley flying down into Clark’s court, and that was it. The crowd, which had gone from exuberance to anxiety in the last minutes of the match, went silent. The Thunderbirds came together for a team cheer. This win clinches their spot in the NWAACC playoffs. The Penguins play Pierce College on Wednesday. At stake is a neutral record and fourth place in the western division. Students can cheer them on at Pierce’s home court in Lakewood Washington.