PASADENA – Two weeks ago, the Bakersfield College women’s volleyball team predicted big wins in the regional playoffs. The team was set to face off against ninth-seeded Riverside in round one, and, if the Renegades won, they had the chance to play top-seeded Pasadena City College, ranked second in the state.
According to team captain and emotional leader Chelsea Rose, people never gave the Renegades the credit they were due, but the team knows what they are capable of.
“Upsets are coming,” said Rose before the Riverside match. “We feel like we were fairly ranked. We lost some early matches and we just have to go out and prove we belong here. If that means going out there and beating better teams, so be it.”
That is exactly what the Renegades did.
They started off the playoffs against Riverside on Nov. 24. Riverside came into the match with a record of 17-10. The Renegades defeated the Tigers in five games with the scores of 25-14, 22-25, 25-14, 21-25, and 15-9.
Head Coach Carl Ferreira talked about winning the playoff game at home against Riverside.
“We were very prepared,” said Ferreira. “They were a very resilient team; they kept coming back at us, but we just mentally managed better down the stretch. It took our leadership, maturity and our collective communication to pull out the win in this match.”
In round two of the regional playoffs, the Renegades traveled to Pasadena on Nov. 28 to take on the highly ranked Lancers.
According to Ferreira, the team wasn’t worried about who they were going to play next, or how high the next team was ranked.
Game one began with Pasadena City College in control and with a lead early. BC battled back and took a four-point lead late. PCC played well down the stretch and defeated BC 26-24.
Game two started out much the same as the end of game one with the Renegades committing error after error and hitting 10 out of the first 14 Pasadena points out of bounds. Once the Renegades cleaned up their play, they kept it close right
down to the end again.
This time, they overpowered the Lancers and took the win away, 25-23.
In game three, BC started out strong and kept increasing the lead as the game went on. Toward the middle of the game, they lost starter and key player Corissa Alvarez due to a lower leg injury. The team battled on and won the game by the score of 25-16.
Game four was the opposite of game three. The Lancers started out hot and built a sizable lead. Then BC had even more problems to deal with when star player and kills leader Reisa Fessler was injured in nearly the same fashion as teammate Alvarez. Fessler sat out the rest of the match in tears hoping to have another shot at playing again.
At that moment, Ferreira had a decision to make.
He had just subbed out a position player and could not replace her immediately, so he was left with two choices.
One, pull a red shirted player off the bench and waste a year of eligibility for one game, or two, put in a smaller player out of position on the front row. He chose to go with option two. He placed freshmen Alexis Alvarado and Elisha Deleon in the game.
The Renegades pulled the game closer but could not overcome the large deficit PCC had gained. The Lancers won the game by the score of 25-15.
Game five was played without both key players and with two freshmen who hadn’t played much all season. The game was tightly contested and went back and forth.
BC controlled the lead at 8-6, and then the teams switched court sides, and the Renegades continued to lead. Pasadena scored three more times, while BC kept pace for the win.
BC ended up scoring five of the last six points to close the door on Pasadena, winning by the final score of 15-9.
After the match, Ferreira spoke about the thrill of winning against the top seed, his team and its confidence and the key injuries.
“It was such a relief to see what we did in game four after Reisa and Corissa were both out. I knew we could compete when I saw that we lost, but we maintained composure, and we stabilized ourselves during that game out after being down by so much,” said Ferreira.
“My greatest thrill is seeing them do what they did. Before the match I told Chelsea, ‘Can you envision the dog pile right here in the middle? Can you see it, Chelsea?’ And to actually watch it unfold two and a half hours later is kind of remarkable.
“We aren’t quite sure how serious the injuries are as of yet, but all we can do for now is start treatment on the way home and hope for the best outcome for the next couple of games,” said Ferreira.
Team digs leader and libero Sarah Kurfess talked about the team spirit before and after the match.
“We were so focused, nothing else could enter our minds,” said Kurfess. “We were just hungry for the win; we just wanted to win. We didn’t expect to win like this, but everyone stepped up, and we had players come in and just do what we needed them to do.”
Fessler talked about her injury and winning games two and three.
“I think we made a lot of errors, and we knew that if we just eliminated those errors we could win game two,” said Fessler. “Our team work and our communication helped us in game three. Whenever we had a change occurring or when Corissa went down, we talk to each other and make it feel comfortable, we don’t make it something difficult. We just go with the flow.
“[As far as the injury] I can’t really tell, but I’m hoping I’ll be fine by next week,” said Fessler.
Several BC football players, including quarterback Logan Kilgore, showed up to watch the match after losing to Mt. San Antonio College earlier in the day in the Southern California playoffs.
Kurfess had 33 digs and 10 set assists, Rose had 43 set assists, Brookey Holmes had 16 kills and 13 digs, LaPorsha Singh and Fessler both had 11 kills.
This win brings the Renegades overall record to 21-5.
Next up is the state playoffs where the Renegades are set to face Northern California’s No. 1 overall seed, and No. 1 overall in the state, Sacramento City College. Sacramento City is 30-0 on the season.
The state tournament will be held in Stockton on the San Joaquin Delta campus from Dec. 4-6.