Girls’ volleyball, facing the same opponent they defeated for the 2012 North Coast Championship, came up short of a second consecutive title.  Bishop O’Dowd beat the Cougars in the NCS title match on Saturday, November 23.

According to sophomore Kirsten Sibley, in the game’s deciding moments of the 5th set, the referee made 2 controversial calls. The first call was on a Campolindo match point, when one of Bishop O’Dowd players spiked a ball through the Cougars’ defense and it landed outside of the court lines. The referee ruled that one of the Campolindo players touched the ball and therefore the point belonged to O’Dowd. “I didn’t touch that ball. It went over my hands, and I knew it was going out,” said Sibley. “There is nothing we can do about it now.”

The girls were celebrating their apparent win when the referee called them back to the court.

The second controversial call was three points later. The line judge called the ball in, but the first referee overruled and called it out, awarding the point to O’Dowd.

The Cougars were unable to recover, losing the final game 20-18.

Despite the controversial defeat, Sibley is happy with her team’s performance. “It was probably one of our best games this season. It was really tough competition, but I still think that we gave it our all.”