The Acalanes Junior Varsity Women’s Volleyball team finished the first half of the 2020-21 Season on Wednesday night, May 12, with a win against the Alhambra Bulldogs in two sets 25-15, 25-21 at Alhambra’s home turf in Martinez. The Lady Dons are undefeated thus far with five wins and five more matches left in the season.
From the start, the Bulldogs struggled to score against the Dons, who served nine of the first 10 points. The Dons maintained a healthy lead between seven and 10 points throughout the first set thanks to unbreakable serves by Mara Korzeniowska, Ava Bunton and Lyanne Wang. In addition, Ava Bunton and Sofie Foster stunned the Bulldogs with a handful of kills, while Mara Korzeniowska caught them off guard with several dumps for kills. The Bulldogs fought back by blocking an attack by Sofie Foster, but the Dons responded immediately in the next point with a kill by Apple Walton. To bring the set to a close, Hanna Hageboeck landed two back-to-back kills.
In the second set, the Bulldogs were determined to put more points on the board, but the Dons persisted. A set by Kylie Choi to Maddie Bacon resulted in a smashing kill. Georgia Winkles contributed to the solid back row with good serve receive and free ball passes. The Bulldogs nearly caught up to the Dons with one point behind at 7-6, but the Dons responded with a kill by Apple Walton and a serve receive dive by Jasmine Frost that landed in the donut hole on Alhambra’s side of the court for a point! The Dons maintained a narrow lead in the middle of the set thanks to an ace by Lyanne Wang, block and kill by Sofie Foster, and a tip and kill by Ryann Jones. A serving run by Elsa Simas helped the Dons grow their lead to 20-14, followed by kills by Ryann Jones and Jasmine Frost. A series of unforced errors by the Dons allowed the Bulldogs to catch up until they were just two points down at 23-21, but for the last point of the match, Jasmine Frost served up an ace that was the perfect FROSTing on the winning cake!
The game can be viewed here: https://sporfie.app.link/pbMUWVoddgb