GILROY — Christopher knew taking on Notre Dame would be no easy task. The Spirits are good — scarily good.
But despite the caliber of their opponent, the Cougars hung with them before eventually falling 3-0 at home Wednesday. CHS lost 9-25, 21-25, 15-25 in its last home contest of the year.
The loss was especially hard for the team’s six seniors, who were honored before the game. The last play, where the team failed to return the ball, will haunt them said senior Cheyanna Dela Merced but she said she was proud of her time spent in a black, teal and gold uniform.
“After that last play, it dawned on you: This is our last time walking off this court,” she said. “We all kind of broke down. We’re going to miss everybody.”
The Cougars looked to rebound in Game 2, but things didn’t look to be getting much better. The team trailed by 11 points, 9-20, but a kill from Olivia Tabron followed by an ace from Christa Arroyo swung the momentum back in Christopher’s favor. CHS went on a six-point run to get within three at 18-21, but didn’t stop there. A big kill from Dela Merced and a dig from Arroyo helped keep the Cougars in the game to get within two at 21-23 before ultimately falling to ND.
“I thought it was a really good game regardless of the outcome,” senior middle/opposite hitter Emily Doughty said. “We all came together as a team, especially during the second match — we came back from like 11 points. This is some of the best play that we’ve done as a team all season, so it was a good note to end on for our senior night.”
Doughty came up with three kills and a dig in the game. She was one of six Cougars who served 100 percent in the game — Marielle Gomez, Brittney Souza, Michelle Toves, Emily Buchner and Arroyo being the other five.
Game 3 saw the same fight displayed in Game 2. Even when trailing by nine, the Cougars didn’t let up. Arroyo came up with another big dig, followed by back-to-back kills from Samantha Dolan to rack up three points and keep Christopher alive at 14-23. Notre Dame wasn’t about to let this one slip through its fingers, however, and applied the pressure to pull out the victory.
“When we decided to fight, we were very competitive with them. That’s the team that we see every day in practice,” Brian Calimpong said. “Whatever the record dictates or whether we go to CCS (Central Coast Section) or not this season, they’ve worked extremely hard every day in the gym and their work shows it.”
Olivia Tabron led the team in kills with seven, while Dela Merced racked up 25 assists, eight digs and two kills. Buchner added nine digs for Christopher.
The Cougars have just two games left, including the Spikefest II tournament at Milpitas at 8 a.m. Saturday. They drew Aptos in the first round, a team they lost 3-0 to on Sept. 12.
Wednesday’s loss dropped the team to 12-14 overall on the season and 5-7 in league. Every win is crucial now in the Monterey Bay Gabilan League as the team sits in fourth place and still hopes to make the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“We’re definitely proud of last year’s (league) win, so we’re trying to fight to be that same team that we were last year,” senior libero and captain Buchner said. W”e’re an even better team this year than we were last year. We have a team where we connect on all levels — we’re a family on this team.”
