The Pirate volleyball team had a resilient reverse sweep victory over previously undefeated Los Angeles Mission College Wednesday at the Athletic Event Center. Ventura dropped the first two sets, 25-18, 25-20 before coming back to take the next three 25-20, 25-22, 15-3 for the upset victory. Taylor Lane led an outstanding defensive effort at the net by VC with nine block assists and Daphne Raymond added seven. Makena Schaumloeffel totaled 19 digs while Josephine Rausch and Talia Behrens each recorded 13 kills offensively.
The first set was a battle early with Rausch giving VC an early 3-2 edge with a winner, and the Eagles coming back to go ahead 7-4. Behrens and Schaumloeffel each had a kill and Rausch had a block to tie the sore at 11. After a timeout, LAMC took control, scoring five straight winners. They were able to hold the advantage through the end of the set, winning 25-16.
Daphne Raymond hit a big swing for a 2-1 lead for Ventura in the second set, and Behrens then served the Pirates to a 6-1 margin, the final point before an Eagle timeout coming on a service ace. Mission began a slow comeback, but the Pirates kept pace with a Schaumloeffel kill and an ace from Sadie Lishman giving VC an 11-7 advantage. The Eagles scored five of the next six points, however, to knot the score at 12. Mission continued their run with leads of 16-14 and 20-15 before taking firm control of the match with a 25-20 set win.
Despite being down 2-0, the Pirates continued to battle in the third set. Rausch hit a big winner to give Ventura a 4-3 lead and Behrens moved VC ahead 6-4. Bryce Swain keyed a big VC run with an ace to give the Pirates a 9-5 edge and Raymond's block at the net made it 13-8 for Ventura. Behrens and Raymond each had kills to move the lead to 17-9 while Taylor Lane's block put the Pirates ahead 21-14. LAMC came storming back, closing to within 23-20, but a pair of big winners by Behrens held off the Eagles with VC surviving 25-20.
As they had done all evening, the Pirates started the fourth set strong, racing out to a 4-0 lead with winners again by Behrens and Rausch. The Eagles came back to tie the set at 4-4, and the teams played even with equal scores again at 7-7, 10-10 and 13-13. Raymond provided a block and Rausch had a kill to put VC ahead 15-14 and Lane's key block extended the margin to 18-14. Winners from Lane and Schaumloeffel gave the Pirates a 21-16 lead. Rausch's winner at set point pushed the match to a deciding fifth set, 25-22.
VB��: @VCVolleyball fights to win a thriller of a third set. Pirates take it 25-22. @vcscolleges @TheAcornSports @cccwvca pic.twitter.com/yG6jY9Gudo
— VCPirateAthletics (@VCAthletics) October 10, 2024
After the two-set comeback, the Pirates thoroughly dominated the fifth set. Behrens and Rausch teamed up again to put Ventura ahead 4-0 on Schaumloeffel's serve, and Raymond's kill made it 7-1. Behrens served the Pirates to a 10-2 margin and Rausch's winner set up match point. Rausch again provided the kill to clinch the match win for VC, 15-3 in the final set.
VB��: #10 Rausch again!! A huge winner to give @VCVolleyball the win in a 5 set nail-biter. Pirates take the 5th 15-3 and win the match 3-2. @vcscolleges @TheAcornSports pic.twitter.com/7ftq5rjmIx
— VCPirateAthletics (@VCAthletics) October 10, 2024
Schaumloeffel added seven kills and four aces to her defensive effort and Raymond also recorded seven winners on the night. Behrens hit .385 in marking her 13 kills. Shai Daniels had 14 digs along the back line for VC while Natalie Bair tallied 11 digs to go along with 22 assists. Skylar Rutherford totaled 18 assists. Behrens added five block assists and Rausch had four with one solo block. Overall, the Pirate defense had 16 blocks, and turned back many other Mission attacks during the night.
The Pirates' next outing takes them to Santa Barbara to face the Vaqueros on Friday Oct. 11 at 6:00 pm.