Cypress Staves off an Upset, Championship Drive Still Alive
Vargas had 51 assists Friday night. |
November 13th, 2009
Cypress, Calif. – The Chargers almost suffered a Friday the 13th upset loss before pulling it out in the fifth set to keep their championship hopes alive. Cypress was forced to a fifth set and won against Golden West Friday after sweeping them earlier in the season. The win keeps Cypress’s conference championship hopes alive as they have one more match to go. Freshman setter Giajaida Vargas led Cypress with 51 assists, nine kills, and 24 digs.
Cypress started strong jumping out to an 11-4 lead before a GWC timeout. The Chargers maintained the buffer on the way to a 25-14 first set win. After falling behind early in the second set, Cypress climbed back thanks in part to two straight aces by sophomore outside hitter Marina Samoa. The set was competitive from there with the Rustlers keeping pace and eventually passing Cypress at the 22-21 mark. Golden West did not look back from there on the way to the 25-23 win evening the match at a set each.
After a 16-16 tie in the third set, Cypress began to pull away and battled to a 25-22 win. The fourth set proved to be a competitive face-off with the teams matching each other point-for-point leading to a 23-23 tie before the Rustlers scored two in a row for the 26-24 win forcing the fifth set. Cypress came out strong in the first set jumping out to a 4-1 lead and held on through the fifth for the 15-8 win.
Samoa led Cypress with 23 kills, four aces, and 19 digs. She was followed by sophomore outside hitter Katie Saavedra with 16 kills and freshman outside hitter Kelly Chiffer with 12 kills. Freshman defensive specialist Madison Moss led the team in digs with 26.
Cypress (18-4, 11-2) are just one win away from a program first Orange Empire Conference Championship. They must get by Riverside first. Cypress defeated the Tigers in a hard fought five set battle the first time around. The two will face off in the season-ender Wednesday at Cypress at 6:00 pm.
