Gavilan College women’s volleyball coach Kevin Kramer doesn’t
want his players to think much beyond the point in front of
them.
”
If we can keep the short term in mind, I think we are a much
better team,
”
he said.
Gavilan College women’s volleyball coach Kevin Kramer doesn’t want his players to think much beyond the point in front of them.
“If we can keep the short term in mind, I think we are a much better team,” he said.
Two matches removed from a non-conference run-in with Santa Rosa – ranked No. 3 in the state – the Rams welcomed Monterey Peninsula College to Gilroy for a Coast Conference South opener with the goal in mind to emulate their approach against the Bear Cubs.
“We came out and just wanted to play point for point with them. And we did that the first two games,” Kramer said. “We played loose, played without any stress, which is what we were looking for at the end of last year. When you have that, I think we can play with some people. Our thing is, can we play loose and stay focused in matches that are tight?”
The Rams demonstrated no sign of apprehension or reservation against the Lobos on Wednesday night, and Kayce Skocko’s service ace to close out the third set was a fittingly emphatic end to an evening in which the Rams could do no wrong, sweeping MPC 25-10, 25-18, 25-12.
“Oh my gosh, I was going for it,” the freshman outside hitter said of the clinching ace as she threw her hands up. “I was like ‘I don’t want to lollipop it.'”
Nothing hinted toward lollipop in the one-sided victory. The Rams took early leads in each set, steadily increased those cushions and closed with urgency.
“We’ve been trying to set little goals for ourselves within the match,” Kramer said. “So when girls look at the scoreboard, the girls know what our next goal is. It’s not winning the game on the next point. It’s getting to the next total, siding out on (the other team’s) first serve, those types of things.”
The Rams (8-6, 1-0) prevented the Lobos from establishing long scoring runs, and at no point during the match did MPC string together more than three points in any of its serve sequences. The deepest juncture in which the two teams remained tied came at 10-10 in Game 2. However, with a pair of Kelsie Asp kills, two more from Skocko and another from Emily Tonascia, the deadlock didn’t last long.
“We are trying to learn how to execute – if we are up, try and keep it that way. Don’t give them any,” sophomore Avrielle Walker said. “You have to get out of serve and receive quick. It we can do that, we are hard to get past.”
Ahead 12-6 in Game 1, the Rams broke off a 13-4 run to take the 1-0 match lead. The third set followed a similar script, this time a 9-2 streak.
“Our coach decided that we were going to do this thing where we were going to be the first to five, first to 10, first to 15, first to 20 and first to 25. That was everybody’s mindset – focus on little games at a time and not get overwhelmed,” Skocko said. “We were just trying to stay ahead and focus on positive attitudes the whole time.”
Skocko, Tonascia and Melissa Avila shared the team-high with eight kills. KC Beadle and Walker had five kills. Brittany Lewis, Walker and Skocko served two aces each, and libero Jaclyn Lantis had one.
The Rams continue conference action Friday night at West Valley. They remain on the road next Wednesday against Chabot before returning home to face perennial conference favorite Cabrillo at home Oct. 7. Gavilan and Cabrillo shared the South championship in 2009. The Seahawks won it outright in 2010.
“We’ve gone through about four or five different lineups to see what we can and can’t do,” Kramer said. “If we make a couple switches we can be a completely different team matchup-wise. We have a lot of different options that will hopefully help us in some of these big matches coming up.”
