Pirates beat previously undefeated Marauders

The Antelope Valley College volleyball team came into Wednesday's match at Ventura undefeated this season. They left without that moniker as the Pirates accomplished a three-set sweep of the Marauders. Four different Pirates recorded eight or more kills, including Addison Olson with 10, Madison Mierau and Josephine Rausch with nine, and Daphne Raymond with eight. Valeria Ibarra and Monaye Ramessar had 22 and 16 assists, respectively, and Shai Daniels recorded 15 digs.

Rausch and Raymond had kills for an early 3-1 Pirate advantage, and Ramessar's ace extended the lead to 6-1. VC ended up with an 8-1 margin before AVC called timeout, and Olson's kills maintained an 11-5 score in the first set. The Marauders fought back to a 12-11 count before Raymond, Rausch and Olson all had winners in a 9-1 Pirate run. Ventura claimed the first set 25-17.

Taylor Lane had her first kill of th night for a 2-0 VC lead early in the second set, but Antelope Valley managed to keep things close at 3-3 and 6-5. Olson had a block and a kill for a 16-13 Ventura lead before Callie Cahill and Mierau each had winners for a 22-17 margin. Mierau  and Cahill scored winners on the final two points, giving the Pirates a 25-21 set win.

The third set was tied at 2-2 and 4-4 before Antelope Valley opened up a 9-5 advantage. Mierau and Raymond each hit winners to bring the Pirates back to an 11-11 tie and Ibarra hit two straight service aces to open up a 15-13 margin. AVC came back to knot the count at 16, but kills from Olson, Cahill and Raymond put Ventura ahead for good. VC claimed the clinching third set 25-18.

The Pirates hit .324 as a team in the match, and did not record a hitting error in the match-deciding third set.

VC next travels to Citrus College on Friday Sept. 19. The match against the Owls begins at 6:00 pm.