ROCKLIN, CA – Menlo Women's Volleyball fought from behind to take down the Jessup Warriors in their very own Warrior Arena on Saturday night in a reverse sweep. The Oaks were trailing 0-2 before they found the power to overcome the Warriors and win it in 5 sets! It was a complete team effort which seems to have become a confidence boost going into the final week of GSAC play. Menlo is now 16-7 in overall record and 8-4 in GSAC play.
Grit and Team Effort Earns Five Set Victory for Oaks
Jessup came out swinging hard in the first two sets to win 17-25 and 11-25. From there, the Oaks took control of the match and went on a 6-point run to open the third set. That gave Menlo a large enough lead to remain ahead until the very end. A Maya Saole-Su'e kill would win the third set 25-20. The momentum was rolling into the fourth set with another 7-point run in the beginning to make it 9-3. Paige Harmann chose to set Keely Grant in the middle for the set point win to take the fourth, 25-14. The fifth set was a side-out battle with the Warriors making it 13-10 before Menlo decided to end the match. Ayanna Barham made the score 14-10 with a kill by a set from Beatrice Manzon. What sealed the deal was a kill from none other than defensive specialist, Amey Rainaud-Hinds to bring it home for the Oaks, 15-10. 15 different Oaks saw the court today and put in their effort to take this match after being down by two sets. Head Coach Denise Sheldon can return to Atherton satisfied with this road trip victory and use it to prepare for the next GSAC face off!
Team Blocking Led By Saole-Su'e
The sophomore middle blocker, Maya Saole-Su'e, has found her mojo these last appearances for the Oaks and today was the same story. Su'e totaled 8 kills and 3 aces on offense while also generating 6 total blocks, including one solo for the Oaks. Gabriella MacKenzie was also a brick wall tonight with 4 block assists. The offense was led by Katharine Mumm and Hannah Torres who each had 11 kills and 2 block assists. Paige Harmann dished out 21 assists for Menlo as well as landed 2 kills. Amey Rainaud-Hinds kept the Oaks in the match tonight with 25 digs. She sits at #4 in the nation with 6.25 digs per set and #8 with 550 total digs. There is no better way to reward Rainaud's performance this entire season than to earn herself the match-winning kill against Jessup!
Up Next…
It all comes down to the final week of GSAC play to see who will become the #2 seed in the GSAC Championship Tournament! It is between Menlo and Life Pacific which will be the next matchup happening on Friday, October 27th at 5pm in San Dimas, CA.
