Campolindo girls varsity volleyball took the win over Acalanes on the Dons home court on September 20 with a score 3-2.
Every year, this game is always a highly anticipated rivalry match; however, this year Acalanes took it to a whole new level. In the weeks prior to the game, the Dons were posting on all forms of social media claiming that they were setting a school record for attendance in the gym for a women’s sport. “They were hyping up the game a lot, so it just felt really good to beat them and show them that Campo is still on top,” said senior setter and captain Rachel Andre.
The Cougars started off the game strong, winning the first set 25-23. Although the score was close, Campo dominated this set through hits and passes, setting up a positive momentum for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, their 1st set momentum came to a halt in the second set, as Campo fell short losing 19-25, bringing the overall score to a tie of 1-1.
The Cougs kept their composure by “keeping our minds on the court and ignoring everything around us because there were a lot of people. We paid attention to what we needed to do and just played simple by focusing on the court,” said senior outside hitter Hanna Bjornson. It was this mindset that allowed Campo to win the third set with a score of 25-19.
Going into the fourth set, tensions were high for both teams, considering Campo just had to win this set to win the game. The Cougs were in control for most of the 4th set, as they maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the set. This large deficit did not faze the Dons, as they came all the way back to win the set 25-23.
This comeback caused the game to go to a fifth set, the maximum number of sets allowed. It was all or nothing. Either the Cougs would need to muster up enough energy to win the 15 points, or the Dons would win for the first time in 20 years.
Even through all the ups and downs of the game, the Cougars’ energy remained constant.
“We played 110% the whole time. Even though we were nervous, we kept playing as hard as we could and worked on not letting the ball touch the ground or let the student’s actions get in our heads. We just did our job and kept pushing until literally the last second,” said Bjornson.
Campo was able to barely pull through and win this long awaited rivalry with a score of 15-13, and a final total score of 3-2.
