The College of the Siskiyous volleyball team had its first taste of victory and defeat on Friday as they defeated Napa College in five games, 31-29, 22-25, 25-21, 10-25 and 15-13.  A few hours later they lost to Sierra College in four games, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25 and 16-25.
“It looked like we were nervous in the first game and tired in the second, but it was good to play at home,” head coach Tom Powers said on Tuesday.   
The game plan for the Eagles was to get all the athletes into the rotation in order to see who will be playing this season and to use a different lineup for each game, Powers said.  
The games look the same because the teams exchanged runs and built  momentum, not really getting a definite advantage. One team would extend a lead and then give up points allowing the opposition to close the gap. One issue that was causing problems for the teams was the ceiling. Several times throughout the games, the ball would bounce off the ceiling.  This caused the athletes to misjudge the ball and led to easy points.    
COS started out strong jumping to a 7-0 lead in the first game. Powers said the team seemed to lose focus and Napa started to chip away at the lead.  After some lead changes, the Eagles finished off the game with some strong passing and hitting.
The next two games were close as each team built a comfortable lead on the other. 
Katelyn Prigmore and Ashley Spalding were the offensive standouts. Spalding had two aces and was the Eagles’ best server. 
“[Spalding] can go out and float that ball and it just confuses other teams,” Powers said of the server.
Stephanie Batchelder was handing out assists like they were candy, accumulating 41 in the series against Napa.
Laura McMahon and Katie Zauner were strong in the front court with four and three blocks respectively. Megan McMahon added two. Laura McMahon also added seven kills.   
COS fell behind 0-9 early in the fourth game and they couldn’t recover. Mental mistakes                                                                       and confusion led to a 10-25 loss. 
“We didn’t say much to them between the games. We let them go out and play,” Powers said.
In the fifth game, COS and Napa were close but a last minute surge by the Eagles led them to victory.    
Sierra was a different story  with a different ending.
The Eagles came out and won the first set. Batchelder wasn’t as productive as in the previous game, but finished with 21 assists.
Spalding added four more aces. 
It had looked like the wind had come out of the Eagles’ wings. When it looked like they were about to make that push, Sierra went on another run.   
“We just couldn’t get going,” Powers said.   
Powers said the team has to make a lot of improvements before conference play starts, especially with passing and serving. He feels that they need to have a more controlled serve which will lead to less basic offenses by their opponents.
Having a good run at the beginning of the game is going to be important for COS this season. With the loss of their 2007 front line, the Eagles gave up a lot of height. 
“We will need to rely on our defense, serving and passing to keep us in,” Powers said.