Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent
The Coyotes volleyball team hosted Copper Mountain in an Inland Empire Athletic Conference competition. The Coyotes easily defeated the Fighting Cacti in three sets 25-3, 25-6, and 25-2. Cerro Coso improved to 6-15 overall and 2-9 in conference with the win.
"I thought we served really well today and served to the locations I was pointing out. I happy we executed there," said head coach Armando Gamez on the win.
Cerro Coso's serving was front and center in the win over Copper Mountain. The Coyotes registered 30 aces as a team and only committed seven errors when serving. Karla Ortiz led the team with 13 aces, and Abby Wuestenhoefer had 11. They finished with 21 kills on 37 attempts with seven from Madison Meinert and six from Emorie Mogle. They had 21 assists with Ariel Meech leading the team with 15 and Ortiz with six. The Coyotes had 14 digs led by Imani Parker with four and Wuestenhoefer with three. They finished with three solo blocks led by Lexi Higer with two and Mogle with one.
The first set began with the visitors serving and the Coyotes controlled the serve to set up Higer for a kill and the first point. That brought up Wuestenhoefer to serve, and during her serve the Coyotes scored 14 points with nine aces – the first six points were all aces – and kills from Higer, Meinert, and Ortiz. When her serve was broken, the Coyotes led 15-1. After a Meinert kill gave the home team a 19-2 lead, Ortiz served and they scored four points with an ace for a 23-3 lead. The final two points came on a kill from Meinert and an ace from her.
During the break, the Cerro Coso volleyball program held a moment to recognize the Immanuel Christian volleyball program for its accomplishment that season. The Crusaders finished as runners-up in Hi-Lo League and qualified for the CIF-Central Section playoffs.
The second set began with Emma Gonzalez serving and she gave the Coyotes a 3-1 lead with an ace and a kill from Mogle. On their ensuing serve, the Coyotes had Brooke Murphy serve and the home team scored four points for an 8-2 lead with kills from Higer and Mogle. After Cerro Coso broke Copper Mountain's serve, Mogle began her serve and scored four points with an ace, along with two kills from Meinert for a 15-4 lead. With an 18-5 lead, Ortiz served and hit back-to-back aces during her serve for a 21-6 lead. Gonzalez closed the set by serving back-to-back aces for a 25-6 set win.
The third set began much like the first with the Coyotes receiving the Fighting Cacti's serve and Mogle scoring the point on a kill. That brought up Ortiz to serve where she scored 17 points with 10 aces and a kill from Higer. After Ortiz's serving, the Coyotes led 18-1 and had Meech go up to serve after scoring on Copper Mountain's serve. During her serve, the Coyotes scored four points with three aces for a 23-2 lead. The final two points came on a kill from Mogle and an ace from Wuestenhoefer to win the set and match.
The Coyotes finish the season on Sophomore Night hosting Victor Valley tonight at 5 p.m. Gamez said on what he wants to see from his team, "that we are able to serve to whatever area I give them. We did a good job of minimizing errors and continue that for Friday."