"Here we go Sagehens, here we go!" Thud! Thud! "Here we go Sagehens, here we go!"

So screamed the hundred-plus Pomona-Pitzer fans who CMS’s swelteringly hot Ducey Gymnasium to watch the most exciting women’s volleyball contest yet played this season. The boisterous Sagehen backers at the match Friday, September 28, witnessed P-P sweep CMS in three games (30-28, 30-27, 32-30). As the score indicates, no game was decided by more than three points, and it can be said that the vocal supporters may well have played a roll in P-P’s stoic responses to the Athena’s unrelenting pressure.

When a CMS player attempted to dive into the stands to save a loose ball, P-P fan Tiffany Hall ‘03 stood up, flexed the rugby-player guns on her arms and shouted, "What? You want a piece of this?" The shaken Athena nervously retreated back into the game.

The Sagehens were led by outside hitter Vicenta Arrizon ’04, who had 11 kills and 14 digs. Fellow outside hitter Colleen Chrisco ’03 and Renee Faulkner ’04 had 10 kills and 13 digs, respectively. Setter Alysha Lascano ’05 contributed 17 assists. Faulkner’s vocal leadership on the court clearly kept the young Sagehen squad focused throughout the match.

Unfortunately for the Sagehens, the CMS rout was met with disappointing losses to perennial SCIAC power Cal Lutheran Saturday, September 29, and then to lowly Whittier Tuesday, October 2.

The Cal Lu Regals — who are currently 8-0 overall and have lost just two games the entire season — hammered P-P and swept the match 30-21, 30-12, 30-26. Though Arrizon led the team with eight kills and 11 digs, and gameter Jennie Kenmotsu ’05 contributed 13 assists, the Regals dominated the match.

Regarding the Whittier loss, it can be said that the Poets did not win so much as P-P lost. P-P had 11 missed serves in its 15-30, 27-30, 30-23, 24-30 defeat.

"There’s no excuse for that," commented Coach Valerie Cowan on the missed serves. "In rally, that can be a 22 point difference right there." Cowan believed that the unforced errors were a result of "over thinking and being too aggressive, too specific. That’ll be something we’ll work more on in practice."

The game was characterized by sloppiness and little determination on both sides of the net. In the third game, for example, Arrizon made a spectacular dig in the center of the floor. The ball popped straight up for an easy game, but the other Sagehens simply stood frozen and watched it fall to the floor. This communication deficiency was actually met with giggles from P-P players on the court.

There was a "lack of communication and that’s something we work on every day. Being loud, making sure your teammates can hear you. Sometimes it’s hard, but there is still no excuse," commented Cowan.

Moments did arise when the Sagehens seemed ready to shake off their funk and sparkle. Elena Shih ’04 — whose trademarks are a lack of kneepads and serves taken 20 feet from the endline — had trouble with her service early on, but she and Kenmotsu each had four aces in the end. Shih also had a team-high 10 digs, while Faulkner led with 11 kills, including a blistering spike in the fourth match that put P-P up 18-17.

At that point it looked like the Sagehens would take control of the game and tie the match, as they stretched their lead to 23-19. Yet the Poets would not go away, and with the game tied 23-23, Shih hit a spike long that opened the door to a flood of P-P kills that missed out-of-bounds. The Sagehens would manage only one more point in this final game, and Whittier rode the errors to its victory.

Susan Caplow ’03, Debbie Birnbaum ’05, and Chrisco each contributed eight kills, and Chrisco added nine digs against Whittier.

"When we started off our passing was struggling, and when we cleaned that up we became much more consistent at doing just the little things on the court that we need to do," remarked Coach Cowan. "One thing that we’re working on is that main thing of being consistent — if we’re off balance, keeping the ball in play and letting the other team make the errors. Overall I thought we were really aggressive, maybe too aggressive at times, and again it’s just making those little adjustments that will put us over the edge."

Few fans were in attendance at the two losses, and this clearly had an impact on the Sagehens’ play. Nearly all teams perform well when there are a lot of fans to encourage them, but the Sagehen volleyball team exemplifies this rule more than most. As a matter of fact, the team’s play fluctuates between intense and lackadaisical based on the amount of crowd support.

"[The fan support] helps pump the team up," said Coach Cowan. "It’s like having a seventh person on the court, and so hopefully we can get more people out at the games. I think the emotional energy that was put out at Claremont made a big difference."

Nevertheless, the team should not rely on fans for motivation. "The team has to focus, no matter if there is one person or a hundred in the stands," said Cowan.

Heading into the Friday, October 5 match at La Verne, the Sagehens number one concern is consistency.

Despite P-P’s relative youth, this is a very talented team that can run with anyone, including Cal Lu and certainly Whittier.

If the Sagehens can maintain the focus that distinguished their match against CMS, La Verne and anyone else will be no contest. If not, then every game will be tough.

Finally, a special note for Tiffany Hall: before you can go to any more matches, you need to register those guns with campus security!