Each point by the Hawks filled The Nest with cheers. Among the loudest voices — Taylor Huerta.
The freshman outside hitter for the LPC women’s Hawks is one of the team captains and most vocal. Clearly.
“I really want to try to motivate us,” Huerta said. “I feel like it’s very important to make a lot of noise to let the other team know they made an error and we got a point.”
Following every point, especially after mini scoring runs from the Monterey Peninsula Lobos, Huerta made herself heard. But after dropping two close sets, frustration settled in. The Nest lost its energy. Huerta and the rest of the Hawks went quiet.
The Hawks lost an intense rematch against the Lobos on Friday, Nov. 1, falling in three sets — 29-27, 25-23, 25-8— at home and snapping their six-game home win streak.
The Hawks (11-7 overall, 5-3 conference) have two games remaining in the regular season before learning of their postseason fate.
Last month, Las Positas lost the showdown at Monterey Peninsula, also in three riveting sets.
They again came close to beating Monterey Peninsula, currently sitting first place in Coast Conference-North.
The first two sets were eerily similar to their first match with the Lobos, both going down to the wire but Monterey pulling them out. That made it six straight nail-biting sets LPC lost to the same team.
In the third set Friday, tensions seemed to boil over.
The Lobos jumped out to a 13-1 lead. Each point led to a larger explosion of excitement from the Lobos sideline. Meanwhile the Hawks’ frustrations brewed to a breaking point.
“I think that there were some moments where their emotions got the best of them,” head coach Jamie Hadenfeldt said. “Just trying to keep them focused the best that they can and not worrying about the previous point (is all we can do).”
The Hawks were blown out in the third set.
The loss provides an opportunity for important self and team reflection. The program has reached a stage of competitiveness. They are able to stay close with the big programs, but they can’t find ways to beat them consistently. The missing piece — being able to stay calm in those close battles against elite competition, while avoiding critical mistakes.
“Volleyball is a game of errors and who can kind of control those unforced errors dictates the outcome,” Hadenfeldt said. “I think that we just make some mistakes in some crucial moments and volleyball’s a lot about momentum and rhythm and we were just having a hard time stringing points together.”
To gain that consistency, they will need even more from their two star attackers, Huerta and her freshman teammate, Ainsley Wade. The pair have been two key players to the Hawks turnaround, from 0-16 last season to 11-7 and 5-3 in Conference this year.
“They carry a lot of weight for us,” Coach Hadenfeldt said. “I think the reason they can do it is because they have that right mindset, leadership quality and go-to player mentality. They like to be the people that are in charge of scoring points.”
While Ainsley and Wade have given the Hawks a big offensive boost this season, it also gives their opponents a big target.
“At some points it is a kind of a struggle,” Huerta said, “because the other teams will start to adjust and pick up on it. So then the blockers are already there waiting.”
The Lobos did exactly that—frustrating the pair into making mistakes that they usually avoid. With it, communication diminished, specifically in the lopsided third set. There, the Nest went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
“We are not against each other,” Steffani Santos, a sophomore player, said. “This is a team sport. We grow together, we make mistakes together (and) there’s always supposed to be room for improvement. And Coach will always be the person to tell you what to improve and she will help you.”
While the loss impacts their playoff hopes, the Hawks will get at least two more games to continue growing their identity.
“We just need to just come back, stop that momentum, try to get back out there, ” Santos said. “We need to not focus on the score and just control what we can control on our side.”
Top photo: Taylor Huerta (No. 2) raises her arms in celebration with her teammates against San Jose on Oct. 2. (Photo by Alan Lewis/The Express).
Jakob Arnarsson is the Editor-in-Chief of The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JakobA2004. Luke Vavuris is the photo editor and a staff writer for The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @Luke5068.
