After two crushing victories against Lincoln and Lathrop High School, despite missing key players, the Tracy High women’s volleyball teams’ confidence appears to be treading in the right direction.
The Bulldogs easily defeated both Lincoln and Lathrop 3-0. With the preseason behind them, the team now looks forward to competing for a playoff spot. These back-to-back wins mean a lot for the Bulldogs according to a few of the team’s players.
Senior captain, Ling Han, played a huge role in the victory against the Trojans. Han lead the team in kills and aces with 15 kills on an impressive .419 hitting percentage. She had six aces to go along with her dominate performance.
“It was the first game of the league, so it was pretty exciting winning, because I’m not going lie we were down a little bit,” Han continued. “But I think with the same energy we had this week, and if we keep it up, we can have a really good season this year.”
Earlier in the season against El Capitan, senior captain libero Madison Cornwell went down with what seemed to be a head injury. Cornwell was the anchor of the Bulldog defense, and a loss of a key player can be detrimental to a team’s season.
However, freshman DS Gurnaaz Joura stepped into the libero role and has been exemplary.
“Without a libero, like c’mon now, that’s the hardest position, you know,” Han explained. “But our freshman libero [Joura] picked it up. You know, coming in as a freshman, from eighth grade, you know she stepped it up and looked pretty good.”
The Bulldogs current record is 11-10, which some might view as a bit of a surprise when factoring in how dominant Tracy High women’s volleyball program has performed over the last few seasons.
“I think the team is capable of more,” Han said, reassuringly. “I mean, we all have great qualities we bring to this team, we’re all great players individually, and if we work together as a team then we could definitely make playoffs this year and have a great season.”
The Bulldogs have a tough challenge ahead of them, but with the momentum the team has garnered recently, it will be hard to count them out, according to junior Precious Talavera.
“I think we can compete with any team in the league,” Talavera said. “We have been playing pretty good and have a good chance of making the playoffs.”
On Thursday, Sept. 21, the Bulldogs are home as the team battles a surging Saint Mary’s (17-1) team that has looked talented thus far.
