Girls Volleyball: Milpitas Falls In Five-Set Thriller

For the first time this season, the Milpitas High girls volleyball team found themselves in a deciding fifth game against an opponent.

Even though Milpitas didn’t come out on top Thursday night, the team made Monta Vista-Cupertino work for every point it scored in the Matadors 3-2 victory at home.

“It was exciting and intense,” said senior Taylor Davis. “We’ve never been in that position before. It was my first time being in a fifth game too. We were able to pull through and played as a team.”

Milpitas received strong efforts from senior Stephanie Pati and junior Julissa Rivera, who acted as spark plugs for the Lady Trojans against the Matadors, who came into the night 6-1 in their last seven games.

“I’m very happy to get the win,” Monta Vista head coach Colin Anderson said. “I think we got a little causal out there at times, but give Milpitas credit as well. They put up a great game. Their libero was fantastic."

Milpitas Coach Jeff Lamb said his team should be proud of the way they fought back and showed a lot of heart during their thrilling five-game match against the Matadors.

“If we had played this way all year, our record would be a lot different,” Coach Lamb said. “They had a good effort tonight. That was the one of the best blocking performance that I’ve seen by one of our teams in the last couple of years.”

After splitting the first two games, the Matadors dominated the third game 25-11, and it looked as though Monta Vista would walk away easily with another victory.

The loss seemed to motivate the Lady Trojans as they game out looking like a brand new team in the fourth game.

Milpitas controlled the game with crisp passing, stellar defense, and ferocious blocking. Senior Jaqueline Lamb ended the game with a kill down the middle to give the Lady Trojans a 25-20 win and tied the match up at two.

After Monta Vista jumped out to an early lead, the Lady Trojans fought their way back in the fifth game, but the Matadors’ heavy hitters up front prove to be a little too much for Milpitas to handle and Monta Vista sealed the win, 15-9.

Coach Lamb said his players might have been a little tired heading into the fifth game after playing two matches earlier in the week.

Milpitas lost to American High-Fremont on Monday 3-0, but rebounded for a 3-1 victory against Wilcox-Santa Clara on Tuesday.

“I think this week we took a step in the right direction,” Coach Lamb said. “We went one and two, but lost a really close one. Hopefully we can use this to carry us forward.”