GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Milpitas Blanked By Lynbrook

The Milpitas High girls volleyball team dropped its home contest against Lynbrook-San Jose on Tuesday night, 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-19).

The Lady Trojans, despite being shut out, played aggressive and had chances to win every game.

After coming out slow at the start of each game, the Lady Trojans found ways to rally and mount comebacks, but costly mistakes and failed serves killed any momentum that the home team gained during the night and allowed Lynbrook to sweep it’s way to a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division road victory.

Milpitas Coach Jeff Lamb said he felt his team let the Vikings gain easy points off errors and penalties.

“We played a really slow game tonight,” Coach Lamb said. “I think that helped the other team play to their strengths and helped their style of play. I think we needed to play at a quicker tempo and we never seemed to get into it tonight.”

In each of the three games, Milpitas allowed Lynbrook to get on the board early and often, with most of the Vikings’ points coming from senior Gavriela Fine.

“She really dominated us early on,” Lamb said of Lynbrook’s middle hitter. “She’s really good at her position and we didn’t really have an answer for her.”

Throughout the night, Coach Lamb used his bench players to try to motivate his starters to play better. After the match, he said he was impressed with the way senior Julia Regalado played coming off the bench.

“Julia came in there tonight and did a pretty good job setting and it led to some kills for us,” Coach Lamb said. “She’s our number three setter and doesn’t get a lot of playing time, but she stepped in did what we needed her to do.”

One of the veteran players Coach Lamb sat during the night was senior Jacqueline Lamb, who found herself on the bench for most of the second game. But the outside hitter didn’t let the benching faze her.

Lamb came out playing more aggressive and determined to show her coach she belonged on the court in the final game. The Milpitas player did it all in the third game earning an ace, two kills and a block.

“She is one of those players who responds well after sitting,” Coach Lamb said. “I thought she came back out and played really well in the third game. She had some of the best swings that we had all night. And when she is on, she can hit the ball hard.”

After the game, the Milpitas players walked off the court frustrated at another close and hard fought loss.

“We know we can play better than this,” said senior Wing Ly. “We are a strong team and we know we have the potential to play better. We just have to step it up.”

The loss dropped the Lady Trojans record to 4-11 overall and 1-1 in league play. Milpitas gets a chance to try to bounce back from the loss against Saratoga High-Saratoga on Thursday.