The Fremont Firebirds varsity volleyball squad earned some revenge with an impressive straight-sets win over the Santa Clara Bruins on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Back on Sept. 23, the Firebirds fell to Santa Clara in a grueling five-set marathon. In the rematch on their home court, though, the Firebirds managed to make quick work of the Bruins, winning 25-22, 25-17, 25-17.
“It feels really, really good,” chimed Firebirds senior Caroline Strigl. “I think we worked really hard; I’m really glad we won.”
Strigl was one of the key standouts for the Firebirds, along with Nora Whelan and Noa Halevy, who provided strong defense in the front row.
“Last practice, we worked on the front row getting tips,” acknowledged Strigl on the front row’s stingy defense. “And coming off to dig balls out, especially from the opposite angle, which we saw some kills were being made against us.”
“I thought she had a great game tonight,” remarked Fremont Head Coach Michelle Wagner. “She’s actually really been progressing for us about the last week and a half, growing in confidence, growing in work ethic. I think she’s hungrier for the ball, and she’s looking for it and wanting it. I’ve seen really tremendous growth from her, which is why she’s won out the other outside hitter position opposite Natalie [Escalera].”
Escalera was also her usual strong self. The Firebirds’ left-handed, six-footer hammered unreturnable kills multiple times in clutch situations.
“Whenever we are out of system, I definitely look to her,” noted libero Zoe Shie on Escalera. “She’s a very reliable hitter and gets us a lot of our out-of-system kills.”
Shie, along with Alexandra [Lexie] Chen and McKayla Hsu, once again led the way with key serves that helped propel the offense to allow Strigl, Escalera and others to put points away on the offensive side of the ball.
While the Firebirds looked like a team very much in sync, the Bruins, on the other hand, looked out of sorts.
“Honestly, we didn’t come into this one with a mindset to win. We just came into it already down,” admitted Bruins captain Ninya Udinoor. “We definitely were not talking as much. Our team really feeds off the energy of other teams and the bleachers and stuff. For whatever reason, we just weren’t able to create our own energy.”
“I honestly have no idea,” responded Bruins Head Coach Martina Carrillo on why her squad seemed to lack their usual enthusiasm. “I feel like every year when we come to Fremont, the energy is just low. I don’t know if we can blame it on the aura of the gym, but for some reason, at this point in the season, the energy just drops.”
The loss drops the Bruins league record to 4-6, while, conversely, the Firebirds see its record improve to 4-6.
Both teams wrap up their seasons on Oct. 29 with home games. Santa Clara will host Cupertino, while Fremont hosts MacDonald.
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