Bulldog spikers fall to Jaguars, Wolverines
Ramona High School’s girls volleyball team was competitive in league matches Oct. 6 at home against Valley Center and Oct. 8 at Westview, but the Jaguars and Wolverines both took victories over the Bulldogs.
Valley Center swept Ramona in three games while Westview required four games to win its match.
Valley Center improved its overall season record to 13-4 and its Valley League record to 4-0 with the 25-16, 25-15, 25-23 win over Ramona.
“We never played badly. Valley Center is very, very good, and they made no mistakes,” said Coach Connie Halfaker.
Halfaker was pleased with her players’ efforts against stronger opposition.
“Even though Valley Center was just really aggressive and quick and everything, they didn’t fold, they didn’t panic,” she said. “They just fought harder and harder and they reaped the benefit of it by playing just a phenomenal game three.”
The Jaguars did not extensively utilize substitutes in the third game.
“Game three we played very well,” said Halfaker. “We were relatively mistake-free as well,” adding, “It was nice to see that we’re able to play that well against very good teams. We were happy to see that we could really hang with that level of team.”
The match against Westview was a learning experience for Ramona’s players about how top teams adapt to competitive opposition.
“Played very well games one and two,” Halfaker said.
Westview required a 30-28 overscore to win the first game.
“It was disappointing to lose game one because we definitely had opportunities to win it,” Halfaker said.
Ramona earned a 25-22 victory in the second game, but the Wolverines recovered to take a 25-12 triumph in game three.
“Our ball control went out the window all of a sudden,” Halfaker said.
The Bulldogs also encountered a Westview ball control strategy which involved delivery of balls into corners which were inaccessible by Ramona’s defense.
“We recovered pretty well for game three, but they kept doing that,” Halfaker said.
Westview won the fourth game by a 25-19 score. The loss gave Ramona a 2-3 record in Valley League play along with a 6-7 overall mark. Westview improved its league record to 4-1; the Wolverines’ only Valley League loss has been to Valley Center.
Ramona has been utilizing a perimeter defense. Halfaker and Assistant Coach Jeff Klauda will seek to develop a rotational defense, which would be able to react to shots into corners, in preparation for the second league match against Westview.
“The girls are at that point now so that they’re able to make minor adjustments,” Halfaker said.
Halfaker noted that the Bulldogs may practice their rotational defense during today’s home game against Mount Carmel.