OCEANSIDE — The beach volleyball team lost undeniably to MiraCosta, but was able to come out on top in its match against San Diego City at MiraCosta College on March 27.
Palomar played SD City earlier in the season and lost 3-2. Three weeks later, the Comets got their chance at redemption and took it, leaving no room for doubt in a decisive 4-1 victory.
In college-level beach volleyball, the team is divided into five pairs, or “duos.” Each duo competes against a pair from the opposing team in a best-of-three match, and the team that wins a majority of the five matches wins overall.
Duo Emma Bambe (#12) and Reese Maffitt (#13) played a strong game against SD City, winning 21-7 in the first set and 21-15 in the second. The partners worked with fluidity and confidence, with Bambe frequently setting Maffitt up for powerful spikes.
Ultimately, their teamwork wasn’t enough to hold off MiraCosta, and they lost in straight sets by scores of 21-14 and 21-12.
The freshman duos Caden Pinto (#8) and Dovie Daniels (#10), and Skylar Zetmeir (#11) and Charlie McLaughlin (#5) continued with the same pattern. Both duos beat SD City but lost to MiraCosta.
There was some heated tension on the courts during the game played by duo Kiana Merrill (#3) and Annie Cummings (#7). In between plays, a player from SD City kicked a volleyball at Cummings rather than passing it.
The crowd gasped and was audibly frustrated, but Cummings and her partner Merrill replied by letting their playing speak for them.
In the first set, Merrill and Cummings lost 21-23, but made a significant comeback, winning the next two sets 21-10 and 15-8 to beat the opposing duo.
“We just came back and…we just worked together and once we started just locking in on our serves, we took over,” Cummings said following the match.
Greyson Grein (#1) and Denise Garcia (#16) were the final duo, and they were unable to defeat either team. They lost to SD City with set scores of 21-16 and 21-8, and also fell to MiraCosta with set scores of 21-12 and 21-3.
The team as a whole displayed strong teamwork and support for one another. In a previous interview, Coach Seiler touched on the team’s chemistry.
“It’s one of the good qualities about this team is that they get along really well. So they’re looking out for each other,” Seiler said.
The Palomar women’s beach volleyball team will play its next matches against San Diego Miramar and Grossmont at 9 a.m. on April 3 at Grossmont College.