For the Live Oak volleyball team, Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Andrew Hill was a perfect example of just how the 2012 season has played out so far.
Behind two strong hitters – seniors Fa Saulala and Savanna Hartman – the Acorns have used teamwork and chemistry to roll over opponents this season. Tuesday’s home match against Andrew Hill wasn’t any different, as the Acorns trailed only once in three sets to run away with the victory and improve their record to 5-2.
“Everybody is doing great,” head coach James Uthes said. “I mean it’s like in all three games today … everyone played today. Everyone plays a role. The hitters are on and it comes from a good pass. For a hitter to have a great hit it needs to come from a great set. To have a great set you need to have a good pass.”
That teamwork was on full display against Andrew Hill. The Acorns started strong with back-to-back opening kills by Saulala, who finished with nine in the match. Behind three aces from Maddy Hartman and good play from Alexis Budde, the Acorns ran away with a first-set 25-13 victory. Six acorns contributed kills in the first-set victory.
“Everyone can score for us,” said Savanna Hartman, who finished with a match-high 12 kills. “It’s great. Everybody can kill – our libero, our setter. It’s a really strong thing that we have. Everyone can kill.”
In the second set, the Acorns started to struggle. Despite opening the set with the ball, the Acorns fell behind 3-5 before making a run.
With seven second-set aces and seven kills from Savanna Hartman, the Acorns fought back to take the lead – something they would never relent again.
The Acorns eventually won the set 25-17 on an ace by Julie Blotz, who finished with a pair of aces.
With continuous strong hitting from Savanna Hartman and Saulala, the Acorns overwhelmed Andrew Hill in the third set to win 25-11.
“We had good serving and we didn’t let dumb balls drop,” Saulala said. “We kept our serves and kept focus.”
That success stems from a strong team chemistry, Saulala said.
“We are pretty young team,” she said. “We only have three seniors this year and, surprisingly, we are meshing really well together right now … It helps just being able to mesh together in the game. If you don’t mesh at all, you aren’t going to win, ever.”
That chemistry was evident the first time the team got together, Hartman said.
“Right off the start, we meshed super, super well,” she said. “It was actually insane how well we meshed. We’ve never played with each other. There was only three or four returners and the rest were new. It was really good. We mesh really, really well.”
And everyone on the team supports each other, Hartman said.
“Everybody that you see, everybody has everyone’s back,” she said. “People are covering each other for blocks. We have people who are on the bench cheering for everybody. No matter if you are on the bench or not, everybody is cheering for everybody.”
That will only mean more success down the road.
“I’m excited for the rest of the games that’s for sure,” she said.
The Acorns travel to Watsonville at 6 p.m. Thursday.
