California Lutheran University women’s volleyball (4-6) swept the Redlands Bulldogs (4-7) on the Regals’ Breast Cancer Awareness night on Oct. 26 at Gilbert Arena.
With this win the Regals took sixth place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from the Bulldogs.
Assistant Coach Carly Rose Howard said the game plan was not only to secure a win, but to play for a cause that affects many women.
Tess Holbert, fifth-year setter, said that this cause hits close to home, so it is important for the Regals to support and continue to raise awareness.
“It’s really important to me just because … my grandma survived breast cancer, so that’s, like, just a big thing to, like, play for her and just play for all the family members and friends that people that are affected by breast cancer,” Holbert said. “As a woman, it’s so important to like to stand for that and … I think that we do a great job of embodying, like, just like powerful women.”
Sophia Muller, senior outside hitter, said that this win was huge for the Regals because, in the previous matchup, the team was swept by the Bulldogs.
“We knew we had to come in and play our game tonight and kind of protect our house, and we just focused on our side of the net, not worrying too much about what they’re doing, and showed out and balled out for sure,” Muller said.
Lexi Holloway, first-year libero, said that the Regals’ game plan was not only to start strong and finish strong but to play hard for the team’s seniors.
“I was really excited, I was really energetic to play with these girls. We’ve gotten so close so fast, and just being with the sisterhood made me feel like one,” Holloway said.
Holbert said this win was something the team needed and this energy will get carried into their next matchup.
“Every day we carry the energy. We do our best to come into practice with, like, full-blown energy regardless of what’s going on in life,” Holbert said. “I think that we’re just gonna, every day in practice, set the tone so when we get to the game it’s, like, easy to just, like, it comes naturally.”
Howard said that this energy is the culture of Regals volleyball and the seniors have a lot to do with it because they are great leaders on and off the court. Holbert said that it is easy to keep the energy up because everyone on the team embodies the team culture.
“It’s the culture of this program to stay loose and dance and have fun. We want, when people come into the gym to watch the game, we don’t want them to know what the score is, even if we’re losing,” Howard said. “We want to be having a blast on the bench because the court really feeds off of that, the girls playing. So that is a huge part of why we’ve been successful.”
Muller said the girls on the court feel supported by the sidelines during the long rallies.
“You might hear us screaming, ‘reset, reset,’ but really just focusing on that ball right now, whether it’s a long rally,” Muller said.“If it’s not the perfect ball, we’re just gonna better the ball right now. Play smarter than harder and just trust our job and trust our teammates around us to be doing their jobs.”
Muller and Holbert both said that one of the goals they want to accomplish during their last season at Cal Lutheran is to finish the season off ranking the highest they can in the SCIAC.
“If you’re playing with love and for the sport of volleyball, for the girls around you, then it doesn’t matter what the wins and losses are,” Muller said.
The Regals will go on to play against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas (10-1) in Claremont, CA on Oct. 29. Howard said that the team’s plan going into that matchup will be to focus on its game.
“We just want to focus on our best defense and what we can do and not worry about the other side of the court too much, and just keep trying to improve our game,” Howard said.
