Delta’s volleyball team seeks to put itself among the top teams in the Big 8 Conference following its win in three, 25-13, 25-20, 25-14 against Santa Rosa on Oct. 1. and loss in three in its visit to American River College on Oct. 6.
The Mustangs currently find themselves in fourth place of its conference with a record of 4-2, trailing Sierra, to whom Delta lost 3-1 in four sets on Sept. 29, American River and Modesto Junior College
As conference competition nears its halfway point, the Mustangs are sure they will continue to improve as the season progresses.
“We’re getting a lot better, we’re working to where we need to be,” right side hitter Kiana Day said.
While the Mustangs have shown to put on solid performances winning four of its first five conference matches, head coach Molly Mordaunt-Hummel said the team has also faced challenges off the court.
“We’ve battled through some adversity,” said Mordaunt-Hummel. “We’re still in a process of piecing things together, we’ve had players that were out for 10 days due to covid protocols and then we had some injuries.”
Delta’s win against Santa Rosa turned out to be costly as outside hitter Savannah LeBarre was forced to abandon the court after suffering a sprained ankle during the second set.
LeBarre leads the Mustangs on the offensive with 160 kills and currently averages 4.44 kills per set, the second highest rate in the state.
Even without its lead killer, Mordaunt-Hummel thinks the depth in her team’s roster allows it to perform at a high level regardless of who’s on the court.
“She [LeBarre] does carry a big load of our offense for sure. We’ll just keep battling together, we’ve put Kiana Day in a new position as a middle and she’s doing a great job carrying a big load offensively too for us. We’ve got a lot of great players, we carry 17 on our team for a reason,” said Mordaunt-Hummel.
Day pointed out that the Mustangs have many players to choose from, which is important for a competitive team to have.
“It’s good because we carry a big roster and we’re all really good girls. It’s nice that when we’re missing [players] we can still come in and go hard together,” said Day.
Every player on Delta’s volleyball team plays an important role during each match whether or not they’re part of the action.
The players on the court feel motivated with the support from their teammates on the sideline as they constantly cheer them on throughout the entire match.
“It’s so fun to play with our teammates yelling at us, especially right now. With covid we only have a certain number of spectators in the gym, so we really rely on our teammates to cheer for us,” said Day.
The Mustangs will play their next match on Oct. 8 when they are scheduled to take on Folsom Lake at home in the Marcopulos Gymnasium at 6:30 p.m.