GILROY – At the beginning of the 2009 season there was one
overlying goal Kevin Kramer envisioned for his team: get over the
proverbial hump and defeat Cabrillo College and West Valley
— two teams that have given the Gavilan women’s volleyball team
fits the last few years.
The Rams defeated Cabrillo in straight sets Oct. 16 and were
able to come away with a victory over West Valley in a compelling
four-set match (25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 27-25) on Wednesday night in
Gilroy.
GILROY – At the beginning of the 2009 season there was one overlying goal Kevin Kramer envisioned for his team: get over the proverbial hump and defeat Cabrillo College and West Valley — two teams that have given the Gavilan women’s volleyball team fits the last few years.

The Rams defeated Cabrillo in straight sets Oct. 16 and were able to come away with a victory over West Valley in a compelling four-set match (25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 27-25) on Wednesday night in Gilroy.

The win increases the team’s winning streak to eight games — a school record — and also pushes the Rams’ season standing to 13-5 overall and 5-0 in Coast Conference play.

“We have played a couple tight matches, but nothing to where someone is going to come up and punch us in the face, and (West Valley) did that,” Kramer said. “Luckily we were able to respond enough to get through it.”

The second-set loss was the first set in seven-plus matches, ending the Rams’ consecutive-set streak at 22 — a small hiccup in an otherwise dominant start to the season.

“Their style of play really kept us guessing all night long,” Kramer said. “It was an eye-opener.”

The Rams led throughout the first set as team captain Bri Romero along with Tessa Fischer set the tempo with key kills to keep Gavilan ahead.

Game 2 was a seesaw battle with neither team leading by more than three points at any juncture of the set.

Sophomore Cheyenne Hambey had her best set of the match with three kills and a huge block to bring the Rams to within one at 20-19. However, they couldn’t completely close the gap and the Vikings went on to tie the match.

The Rams responded with earnestness in Game 3, flying out to a 10-2 lead using an 8-0 run led by freshman Jessica Rux, who had three kills in that span.

“We all mesh well together,” Rux said. “We are a perfect team. Everybody has their own positions and we all play them really well.”

Rux finished the night with 11 kills, behind Fischer who collected 12 kills and Romero who pounded out 14.

The Rams kept applying the pressure and led by as many as 13 points in the runaway third-set triumph.

“(The quick start) was extremely important,” Romero said. “It brought our confidence up to another level that it hadn’t even reached yet.”

The Rams secured the match in a well-played fourth set by both teams. The Vikings didn’t want to lose to the Rams just as much as the Rams wanted to defeat the Vikings. The competition provided for some fierce play on both sides.

Fischer and Romero, along with sophomore Arica Hernandez, kept the set close as the trio combined for the first eight of the Rams’ nine points. The two teams were tied 14 times during the set and were knotted up at 25-25 before the Rams iced it with the last two points of the match, courtesy of a Hambey service ace and a Rux spike to end it.

Sophomore Suzie Schafer had a season-high 39 assists and freshman Shayna Nakata led the way with 35 digs.

“This goes to show the character of this team and the amount of people we have to go to when we are in a pinch,” Kramer said. “We have some depth and ability at all the positions.”

The Rams have the next week off before hosting Chabot College next Wednesday to open up the second half of conference action.

“A lot of these girls haven’t been in this situation and everybody keeps talking about it,” Kramer said. “We are trying to downplay it a little bit because we don’t want the girls to think they have to do it. We want them to understand that this is exciting and we should be riding the wave rather than hoping we don’t fall off the board. I think a game like this helps us break through.”

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