Girls volleyball breezes through first round of CIF Playoffs

On Nov. 10, the Samo girls volleyball team welcomed the Lancaster High School Eagles into the North Gym. It was the first round of the playoffs, so both teams had a lot on the line. Samo was looking to maintain their undefeated record, and move onto the next round.Santa Monica had a shaky start in the first set, due to many rulebook infractions. This led to the loss of many points, which kept the girls from finding their rhythm early on. At the time when these calls were made, the team seemed in question of the ref’s decisions. Though after asking for an explanation from the ref, head coach Wynn Trihn conveyed the message to his team and adjustments were made. The game stayed pretty close, but then Samo began to pull ahead 18-12, determined to not let their mental errors hold them back. They began playing as a perfectly cohesive unit, and Samo won the first set 25-16.“We get six seconds to serve, and some of our girls took too long, but that’s how we normally serve so the ref was being difficult with us,” team captain Brooke Earkman (’16) “We still fought, though.”They utilizing consistent serving in the first two sets in order to take control of the match. The Lancaster team seemed to have no answer to Samo’s offensive playing style as they began to fall apart. Allie Barrett (’16), led the attack with multiple powerful serves and hits.“I just focused on my serves, trying to get everything in and then bring the heat,” Barrett said.Lancaster failed to figure out a defensive plan, which resulted in Samo winning the second set, 25-11.The home team carried on into the third set, encouraged by the dynamic crowd. Their momentum kept them going and the opposition began to see Samo change up their personnel, rotating a multitude of players in and out. The girls did not waiver in their game plan, though, as they continued to bombard the Eagles with point-ending hits, while still maintaining a resilient defense. In the end, Samo pulled out another effortless victory in the third and final set 25-12. After the match, Coach Trihn spoke on how his team made an early adjustment.“[In] the first set, we were serving a lot of balls out and giving up a lot of easy points,” Trihn said. “I told them to just serve them hard but keep it in, and let them make the mistakes and we’ll play tough defense,”Now, the squad moves ahead in the CIF Playoffs, hoping to bring home a championship title that has long escaped their grasp.