After securing their first Foothill League win of the season over Castaic on Tuesday, Canyon girls’ volleyball followed up the victory, defeating Golden Valley on the road.
The Cowboys swept the Grizzlies in straight sets, 25-22, 25-11, 25-4, for their second league win of the year.
“We need a little confidence booster after some tough league games in the beginning,” head coach Samantha Holcombe said. “I’m so proud of the girls.”
In the first set, Golden Valley and Canyon battled back and forth with the Grizzlies trailing the Cowboys, 20-16.
Golden Valley rallied to cut the deficit to two after Canyon’s offense committed an error when going up for a block.
Following the blocking error, Canyon’s Parys Taylor hit the ball out of bounds, which resulted in a point for Golden Valley.
With Golden Valley trailing by one, Canyon freshman Jesselle Alfar landed a kill that shifted the momentum back to her team.
Marli Magee executed another kill to bring Canyon within set point, and a Golden Valley hitting error gave the Cowboys the first set victory.
Prior to the second set beginning, Holcombe spoke to her team about not wanting them to commit too many mistakes and to avoid unforced errors.
“We were just making a lot of errors,” Holcombe said. “We needed to clean it up, make it more simple and try not to overdo it, and they took that to heart.”
And Canyon came out in the second set with a commanding 9-1 lead over the Grizzlies. Golden Valley stopped the bleeding with a kill from Emily Limon, which shifted the momentum.
Golden Valley cut the deficit to five, trailing 9-4 after capitalizing off Canyon’s mistakes. But after a service error from Ava Dalangin, the Cowboys took back momentum and ran up their lead.
The Cowboys went on a 16-8 scoring run to close out the second set, which gave Canyon the win with a Golden Valley service error.
In the third set, Canyon kept up its momentum from the previous two sets and didn’t let Golden Valley come close to threatening the sweep.
The Cowboys opened the set with an early 4-1 lead over Golden Valley, and on the following serve Alfar landed an ace that would begin the first of 14 straight points for Canyon.
“I think she served 18 in a row, which was pretty crazy in a varsity match,” Holcombe said. “She loves volleyball, and it shows on the court. She always wants to get better, and she’s a great asset to our team.”
With a commanding 18-1 lead over Golden Valley, the Grizzlies scored again when freshman Quinn Fisher came down with a kill.
The Cowboys won the set with a Golden Valley hitting error and completed the sweep over the Grizzlies for the team’s fourth overall win of the year.
“We definitely need some momentum preparing for next week,” Holcombe said. “I hope that with my starting lineup back, we can pass the ball well and put it away when we have the opportunity.”
Canyon plays again Tuesday at home against West Ranch with the game set to begin at 5 p.m.
As for Golden Valley, the Grizzlies pick up league action on Tuesday on the road at Valencia.
