Josie Collier
Staff Writer
Mira Costa girls volleyball team drilled a few spikes, but were not able to bring home the win during their last game of the season and will not advance in the CIF playoffs.
Costa fell to Mater Dei High School 3-1, in a California Interscholastic Federation playoff match on Thursday, Nov. 2 at Mater Dei High School. The top performers of the match included senior Lea Ungar with an immense amount of digs and saves that made Costa a competitive threat against Mater Dei.
“Throughout the season we have gotten so much better and were ready to take on whatever CIF throws at us,” said senior outside hitter Karina Myszkowski. “It is important that even when we are not playing our best game we are still improving on skills to use later on. “
Mater Dei quickly took control of the first set with a leading score of 11-6. As the set continued, Costa’s defensive presence was not strong enough for Mater Dei’s offense, causing the Mustangs to lose the set 25-20.
“When the team comes out with a different offensive system our ability to adjust to that it huge for the playoffs,” said Coach Austin Rester. “We have to do a little bit better of a job of thinking off the fly, so we can make quick adjustments and not let a handful of points steamroll us for an entire set.”
Costa put up a fight in the second set, but overall the Mustangs were still not able to penetrate Mater Dei’s defense. Nearing the end of the set, the score was 23-20 with Mater Dei in the lead. Costa was unable to push through the final points leading them to lose the set 25-22.
“We wanted to see if we can really zero in on the things that we have not been proficient at,” said Rester. “We do really well when we serve tough and relentlessly when we play defense with an expectancy for the ball.”
The Mustangs turned it around in the third set due to their strong offensive force which led them to win the set 25-20. Myszkowski had many kills that also contributed to Costa’s offense which the led the team to win the third set.
“I think we did well overall and our players grew individually but also as a team,” said sophomore outside hitter Talia Genova.
Costa began the fourth set but Mater Dei only needed one more set to win the match.Unfortunately, the Mustangs trailed behind Mater Dei for the remaining points of the set losing 25-21.
“Even though we did not overachieve, I truly believe we were far from underachieving and we kept our spirits high through every up and down,” said Genova.
The Mustangs ended the season 16-9 overall and placed second in Bay League with a record of 8-2. The team has been very competitive throughout the season when they have played good teams with high level kids, according to Rester.
“We have competed really well and I am proud of the girls and how they competed even because it wasn’t the smoothest thing regarding our roster,” said Rester. “They have done a good job with rolling with the punches and we have gotten better as the season has gone on.”
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