The EF Hawks pulled off a 3-0 victory against the Calvary Baptist Cougars on the night of Tuesday, April 7, but “Dominant” might not be the word Coach David Stack would use.
EF started the first set strong, earning 6 points early on, and 13-5 at a break. Although the opposing team tried to close the gap, the match ended with 25-18, looking effortless. However, the second set was much different; EF fell behind 7-13. Facing Calvary Baptist blockers that were almost seven feet tall, it took a mini-comeback to catch back on to 16-17. Then they fought hard with strong serving to finish set 2 at 25-22.
Despite the performance in the second set, the third set felt like an entirely different team playing. The Hawks started 6-0, then 8-0, then 14-4. The match finished before it started. With Ray Huang pulling the “best serves of his career,” and Matthew Masuta, who rarely gets played, delivering seven consecutive serves, each earning a point, to end the match at 25-10.
In the end, EF broke a four-match losing streak and moved their overall record to 5-6, but showed some inconsistency.
“I believe that the team had pretty good communications and energy,” Huang said, “but still, there was room for improvement. We could have won faster; it took us a while to win, even though we still had a flawless victory.” Masuta, who “basically won the game,” said he was simply really happy about the outcome.
However, Stack had a more complicated take on the game. “I have mixed feelings about today,” Stack said. “We ended well, the third set was definitely our best of the three, but this is just a team we should have definitely beaten, and I think that we played well at times. We had a hard time being consistent through the whole thing.”
He talked about set 2 being the lowest point, with too many missed serves and too many scoring opportunities blown. “I was hoping to have some more flexibility with people playing in different positions,” Stack added, “but we couldn’t do that as early as I wanted because we weren’t winning as handedly as I feel like we should have.”
By the third set, the team improved a lot. “Serve receive was really strong today, and towards the end, our communication was a lot better, and we’re consistently getting pretty good passes and serves,” Stack said.
For Huang, the toughest part of the day was unique. “The hardest part was the mental barrier of going to hit when there are seven-foot-tall guys blocking you,” he said.
The Hawks take the win and experience, but every member knew the team’s performance could be much better. With better consistency and perhaps a few “Masuta moments,” EF definitely has the potential to do really well for the rest of the season.