FINAL STATS: PORTERVILLE | MERCED

By Kailee Wakatake

TAFT, CA - Taft College Women's Volleyball Head Coach Mallori Rossi has her team in the top 3 of the Central Valley Conference. With an overall record of 16-8 and 9-3 in conference play, the Lady Cougars of Taft College are riding a six-game win streak with recent wins over Porterville and Merced College.

Last Friday, the Cougars challenged the Porterville College Pirates. They won in four sets their first time playing the Pirates. During this time around, the Cougars were hoping to take care of business. Taft was able to take all three sets in a three-set sweep.

The atmosphere in the Al Baldock Sports Center Cougar Gymnasium was truly something special that night. Taft not only hosted their opponents, but also the Lincoln Junior High School Girls Volleyball team, who made a huge difference in the momentum of the game.

Coach Rossi shared her remarks, "I was very happy with how we performed as a team. It seems like we are peaking at just the right time. Our offense was clicking, and our defense was stellar. A huge shoutout to Kailee on joining the 1,000 Dig Club! She has been a huge part of our success this season. We had another amazing crowd tonight. Our community showed up in a big way to create a fun environment for us to play in."

A week later on the road, the Cougars visited Merced College Blue Devils, in Merced. In the first round of conference, the Cougars fell short to the Blue Devils and ended up getting swept at home. However, this time around, the Cougars were looking to battle it out and change their fate.

Merced took the first set 24-26, but the Cougars fought with resiliency and were able to win the second and third sets 25-21, and 26-24. The Blue Devils made it known that they were looking to hold down their home territory by taking the fourth set 21-25, forcing it into a five-set thriller. Taft, however, was able to come out on top and seal the deal with a 15-10 win in the fifth and final set.

"As a team, we have been talking about being proud of our work and not holding back on the court. Although I would have liked for our offense to be a little more efficient, I think everyone can agree that we did a great job of battling whether we were up or down, and that is something to be very proud of. Winning a match on the road in our conference is hard enough, and winning in five sets is even more challenging. I am very glad to see our team continue to improve every day and to be able to carry this momentum that we started building a few weeks ago into these last weeks," said Coach Rossi.

The Cougars are set to challenge second place conference foe West Hills College Coalinga at home on Wednesday, November 1st, at 6:00 pm. A reminder that Wednesday's game is "White Out" encouraging all fans to wear white. The Volleyball Team will also take time out to acknowledge their Faculty and Staff Appreciation during a segment of the game.