Girls volleyball wraps up undefeated league season with 3-0 win over Segundo

The Samo girls volleyball team has had a historic season, ending the year 10-0 to be undefeated in Ocean League. Though before they clinched the title, Samo had to take on their rivals, El Segundo, for a final duel on senior night. According to Sereena Mechlowicz (’15), this was an anticipated matchup.“We definitely expected a challenge, since last time it went to five games, but we came out strong and ready to beat them,” Mechlowicz said.Before the match, Senior Night festivities took place. Birdie Luciano (’15), Allie Barrett (’15), Maria DiFranco (’15), Mechlowicz, Lauren Rosenquist (’15), and Brooke Earkman (’15) were honored by their parents and teammates. After being given flowers and heart-felt banners , the seniors led their team out on the court.This would be the second meeting between Samo and El Segundo. Last time, when Samo played away from home, the match went to five sets, but the Santa Monica girls managed to take the victory. According to team captain Di Franco, it was important that the girls played together.“We don’t really have a lot of juniors, it’s mostly sophomores and seniors,” Di Franco said. “So it’s girls who have been around for a while and girls who are in their first year, so it’s a very different dynamic in a sense” she said, “We needed to be able to communicate between each other and we have gotten so much better at that and bonded as a team.”The match began, and from the opening point both teams were playing hard. Captains Earkman and DiFranco were playing great offensively, finishing multiple points with impressive shots at the net. At the first timeout, Samo led 16-10, and the home crowd was in a frenzy, loudly cheering for Samo and heckling the opposition. When play resumed, Samo took control of the first set by playing great defense, and they won 25-17. According to Coach Wynn Trihn, defense was key to winning the match.“Playing defense, and staying disciplined at the beginning was important, and we started to do that a little bit better and we got blocks and more consistency,” Trihn said.El Segundo came back in the second set, determined dampen Samo’s momentum, and for most of the set, Samo struggled to get past their opponent’s defensive front line. At one point in the set, Samo fell behind 15-20, but Barrett and Earkman helped them fight back by stringing together some great offensive play. At 19-21, DiFranco went on a serving streak that helped Samo win the set 25-22.Up two sets to none, Samo stepped back on the court for the third set. This time, El Segundo couldn’t compete with Varsity squad, and Samo closed out the match 25-13, winning the game 3-0. According to Barrett, everything came together at the end of the season.“We started off a little unfocused, but as we moved along we realized we were really good and we are ready to train for the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Playoffs,” Barrett said.After the match, the girls were happy to have gone undefeated, but they are now looking ahead to the playoffs.“At the start of the season, we were not communicating as well as we could’ve been, but now that we are playing as a team we are playing better and improving,”  Mechlowicz (’15) said. “I think there’s always room for improvement, for everything, but we are happy to go into playoffs and play some great teams.”Samo has managed to end the league season undefeated, which is an impressive feat, but they will now move onto the CIF Playoffs and try to bring home a CIF Championship Title.