GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Milpitas Stumbles Against Santa Teresa

With nine games played this season, the Milpitas High girls volleyball team is still trying to find its way.

Wednesday was just another bump in the road for the Lady Trojans who lost 3-1 to Santa Teresa-San Jose on the road and are now 3-6 overall for the 2011 season.

Like its previous losses this season, Milpitas controlled things early, but had trouble passing the ball and played inconsistent the rest of the night.

During their first game, Milpitas came out of the gates playing more aggressive and energetic then it had since the first game of the season.

Better ball movement led to quick points for Milpitas and allowed Taylor Davis and Pilar Ferguson more chances to score and dominant up front. After taking an early lead, the Lady Trojans played with more confidence and controlled the rest of the game.

“I really liked the way we played in the first game,” said Milpitas Coach Jeff Lamb. “I think we really handled (Santa Teresa) and dominated that game. But just like we did against Live Oak last week, we weren’t able to play like that all night.”

In the second game, the Saints quickly put Milpitas behind and never allowed the Lady Trojans to get back in the game. Despite having a few sparks of offense, the Lady Trojans couldn’t find their groove and dropped the game 25-15.

Both teams saved their best performances of the night for the third game as the two teams battled for each point, but in the end, Santa Teresa was able to squeak by with a 25-23 win.

Any momentum Santa Teresa gained from the third game carried over into the fourth set as the Saints jumped ahead to an early lead and cruised to a 25-13 win to take the match 3-1 over Milpitas.

After the game, Coach Lamb said he felt that his team has been losing games because of their own errors and have let their opponents score easy points.

“We’re falling into the same old pattern of just giving up huge runs,” Lamb said. “And a lot of these runs we’re giving up, it’s because we’re serving bad or (misplaying) the ball. We’re having trouble handling the adversity right now and it’s just something that has to change.”

Despite the loss, Coach Lamb praised the effort given by his bench players. He was pleased with the way Maggie Brown, Katie Blackburn, Melissa Story, and Kennedy Kenney stepped up when Milpitas needed them.

“They really played aggressive for us,” Coach Lamb said. “They came in when we needed to stop the bleeding a little bit. We don’t need them to play great the whole game. They just need to be better than the person they are replacing for that spurt of time. And that’s what they did.”

Lamb was also impressed with the play of Tatiana Alomgela and how she bounced back after Milpitas’ 3-0 loss on Tuesday to Leland-San Jose.

“She did not have a good passing game against Leland,” Coach Lamb said. “But tonight, she stepped up and had a heck of a game. We need more players to play like that. Players who can put the last game behind them and come out the next game and step up.”