The Sinclair (0-1) Volleyball team played its first home match of the 2016 season on Thursday September 1st against visiting Vincennes University (3-0) from Vincennes, Indiana.
Coach K.C. Gan has been coaching The Pride since 1999. Gan feels confident about this season although the outcome of the first game was not what he expected.
“This year I have a better team than last year.” Gan exclaimed during a pre-season interview.
Gan explained his concerns, which the most important one was injury but overall, he has high hopes for The Pride this season.
In the first match of the game, The Pride came out strong with impressive save after save from Caroline Smith and Sarah Bettinger. The communication was strong amongst The Pride and that is how they were able to form strong plays and attack.
Blocking also played a major role in the first match as Aja Howard and Meg Reineke made a strong duo. The Pride fought through but still came up short in the first match by finishing 19-25.
The Pride seemed to have a system going throughout all matches. They fought back and came back stronger each match.
This was all planned by Coach Gan as he explained, “other universities have a system of playing the game but my system is not very traditional but by following my system we can win. They have to follow the system and have discipline.”
The Trail Blazers consistency in making plays for attacks and kills made it easier for them to stay ahead in all of the matches but the second and third match were different. The Pride also stayed consistent with making plays for attacks and kills in the second match which made for a close match.
It was play after play from both teams and they both seemed to have their own system going. The Pride fought through but still fell short and ended the match 23-25.
The Trail Blazers expected an easy third match but The Pride came back even stronger from the first two matches. The Pride were up by at least four points throughout the third match.
They had stronger plays which made for even stronger attacks. The Pride also stayed consistent with their blocking to fight for the win but fell short and finished the game 23-25.
Vincennes (3-0) 25 25 25
Sinclair (0-1) 19 23 23
The Pride will have a busy weekend ahead of them as they play back to back games at the Owens CC Invitational.
All home games are played in Building 8 on the downtown Dayton Campus. Results and stats are also available at www.sinclairathletics.com.
Claudia Gomez
Reporter