Odessa College made quick work of the rematch with Midland College.
After going five sets before winning earlier in the month, the Lady Wranglers swept the Lady Chaps, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23, in Western Junior College Athletic Conference volleyball action Saturday at the OC Sports Center.
It was Sophmore Day for Odessa College, which clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming WJCAC Tournament at New Mexico Military Institute.
“I think we were way more prepared for what they bring to the game,” outside hitter Daniela Rodrigues said. “We watched film yesterday. We scouted them and we were prepared for them exactly what they were doing.”
Lady Wranglers head coach Dayana Acevedo-Rios agreed.
“Our girls did a good job of studying their tendencies and adjusting throughout the game,” Acevedo-Rios said.
The first set was highly contentious, as it featured six ties and four lead changes.
The biggest lead belonged to the Lady Wranglers (24-7 overall, 10-4 in conference) at four, and the home team predominantly held the lead the entire set.
Despite holding a small lead through the second set, Odessa College only trailed once early in the set and controlled the tempo and execution throughout.
That Lady Wranglers success continued early into the third set.
The team opened to a 12-4 lead, thanks to kills by both Rodrigues and Ainara Fernandez.
Odessa College also benefited from Midland College (16-10, 9-5) attack errors in that set.
The Lady Wranglers continued to double-up on the Lady Chaps with leads of 4-2, 8-4, 12-6, 14-7 and 16-8.
Midland College would fight back, battling back to tie the final set, 17-17.
Acevedo-Rios called timeout at 22-22 to calm her players and break the Lady Chaps’ momentum..
A pair of Midland College errors later, the Lady Wranglers celebrated the victory.
“(Getting that third seed) was the goal,” Acevedo-Rios said. “We had a couple of rough weeks. We suffered a lot of injuries and I just feel like the team didn’t cope with it very well.
“I think that when everyone got back healthy, we were like, okay, like we just got to finish strong and try to get ourselves in the best position and they executed,”
Rodrigues does not believe the journey is over.
“(The season) is not done yet,” Rodrigues said. “We have the regional match, and we have that goal. We wanted to go to the nationals so we will keep working really hard to achieve that goal.”
>> Follow Sameer Malla on Twitter at @OA_SameerMalla
