Girls volleyball gains another victory against El Segundo

On Oct. 6, excitement was in the air when the Samo's girls volleyball team won against El Segundo High School, ending with a score of 25-13. “This is the hardest team we have faced so far,” Jackie Zakharin (’18) said. “Tensions were definitely high at the start.”From the very first whistle, the teams were in a battle of will. A point would be won by Samo, immediately followed by the roar of the crowd. Soon enough though, El Segundo would gain a solid lead that created unease. This flip-flop of points did not last for long when Samo got into the groove of the game. The cheers from the El Segundo's crowd became more faint when the Samo team won the first set with a final score of 25-18. “I thought our energy and focus has gotten better since the last game,” Mikayla Diamond (’19) said. “We’ve been working more on getting to the ball quicker.”In the beginning of the second set, Samo gained their lead. The score was close so the game was still intense, but El Segundo never got a lead on Samo during the entire set. Even as Samo was close to winning the second set out of three, El Segundo continued to cheer for every point they got as their team was desperately scratching to even out the score. But the passion of Samo's crowd drowned out all other noises when they won the second set with a score of 25-15.“We have been working very hard lately in practice on aggression,” coach Liane Sato said. “Our serving was much tougher this game. But we need to continue on playing disciplined defense and then just hustling after the ball.”After a few seconds into the last set of the match, Samo got a lead that made it almost impossible for the opposing team to have any hope of redemption. The score jumped quickly from 15-6 to 19-9, then 20-10. The crowds cheered and the girls on the court jumped out of joy as the final buzzer sounded, ending the game. “They are a good team and we knew that coming in,” Zakharin said. “I think that helped us win because knowing we're going against a better team makes us work harder.”