SAN MARCOS – Palomar women’s volleyball hosted San Bernardino Valley on Sept. 10 in their final match before conference play begins.

Palomar looked to regain momentum after losing its most recent matchup, a grueling five-set battle against Mt. San Jacinto.

What appeared to be a dominant performance by the Comets in the first set turned into fierce competition. The Comets led 20-11 before the Wolverines rallied back. With only a 21-20 lead, Palomar’s head coach Karl Seiler called a timeout to reinvigorate the players.

The set resulted in a 25-21 Comet win capped off by back-to-back sets from Caden Pinto (#8) to outside hitter Reese Maffit (#9).

“In those key moments I go to the hitters who I can trust to put the ball away,” Pinto said. “I try to put my teammates in the best positions that we can be in so we can score.”

The second set was tight throughout, but the Wolverines pulled away and won 25-19 thanks to stellar defensive plays and big spikes from its opposite hitter Tamia Hardwick (#5).

The third set was filled with longer rallies compared to the quick points seen in the prior two. Maffit seemed to form a rivalry with Hardwick as many of the teams’ points came off spikes from the two heavy-hitters.

“Having that competition, it just motivates me to want to jump even higher and try to hit way over their blocks, especially when they are as big as how she was,” Maffit said.

Palomar secured the third set 25-20, and needed one more set to win the match.

San Bernardino jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the fourth set, forcing Coach Seiler to call a timeout.

Captain Emma Bambe (#12) then took charge, securing key side-outs and rallies with spikes, blocks and digs that steadied the Comets.

“It’s not just one of us, we rely on each other,” Bambe said. “We’ve gone to five sets the past couple games and did not want to go to a fifth set tonight, so I just wanted to think in ‘next-ball mentality’ and really crush them in that last set”

Up by a score of 20-17, the Comets’ momentum seemed to falter and they soon found themselves tied 22-22. Another strategic Seiler timeout led to a familiar side-out Bambe spike to break the tie.

Two plays later the Comets secured the 25-22 win on a service ace from Schoenwald, besting the Wolverines 3-1.

“San Bernardino played really well tonight, but I felt like we scrapped pretty hard to put ourselves in a position to take that fourth set,” Coach Seiler said. “We’re trying to push ourselves to win the conference itself, so we want to start making a statement that we’re here and we’re ready to come for the championship.”

The Comets will be on the road to start conference matchups against Imperial Valley at 5 p.m. on Sept. 17 before coming home to face 2023 state champion, SD Mesa at 5 p.m. on Sept. 19.

For schedule and team information visit the Palomar Athletics’ website.