The Bakersfield College women’s volleyball team played their first home game of the year on Sept. 22 against Cuesta; they defeated the Cougars 3-1 to improve their overall record to 5-3.

The Renegades won the match with the game scores of 25-19, 26-28, 25-22, and 25-18.

Coach Carl Ferreira spoke about the victory after the match. “I thought we did an outstanding job,” said Ferreira. “Cuesta is traditionally a very good team, so I was really pleased with this match.”

With a stretch of seven matches in nine days, the focus of the team is to recuperate for the next match.

“When you play back to back the most important thing to do is recover, so you can perform again. That’s the easy equation,” said Ferreira. “You’re not going to make a tremendous amount of individual technical adjustments, or a lot of system adjustments.”

With this being the Renegades first home game, the crowed seemed to be a factor according to Ferreira. “I think a big part of winning tonight was being at home. Fans were great, the men’s basketball team was extremely supportive, that was awesome, cheerleaders were excellent, and all the parents, students, and families. I love having support like that, the players really respond to them (the crowd). They know, they can feel it and they understand the energy.”

According to Brookey Holmes, sophomore outside hitter, the crowd support helped a lot. “It was fun to play in that (environment), and to feel like they (the crowd) got our backs no matter what.”

Reisa Fessler, sophomore outside hitter, added, “I don’t think it changed our play, but the atmosphere, I think, distracted the other team a lot.”

Fessler had 19 kills, 12 digs, and two service aces. Holmes had 18 kills, 23 digs, and two service aces. Chelsea Rose had 55 set assists, 14 digs, three service aces, and three kills. LaPorsha Singh had eight kills, 11 digs, and two service aces.

The team plays at Antelope Valley on Sept. 23, then at Hancock on Sept. 25 before coming back home to play Santa Barbara on Friday Oct. 2.