The Rancho Cucamonga girls volleyball team strengthened itself to end the season. According to Maxpreps.com, Rancho holds an overall record of 13-18 and a record of 5-5 in the Baseline League. During the season, Rancho showed more losses than wins; however, in league games, they came in third place in the rankings for league games.
The Cougars started their season on Aug. 9 against Vista Murrieta, ending the game with a losing score 0-3. The following game also resulted in a loss against Cypress with a final score of 0-3. The next two games were both losses, putting Rancho at an overall record of 0-4. However, the next two games resulted in wins for Rancho, defeating Lakewood 3-2 and Claremont 3-2.
This season, the team was in a very challenging position, taking losses from Vista Murietta, Cypress, and more at the start of their season. Even though the Cougars struggled at the start of the season, they came back toward the end.
Senior Audrey Chu shared her thoughts about their progress.
“I prepare for these games by making sure my team is all together and we perform all our warm up exercises together while bonding. By making sure my team is organized and together, I am able to get into the pre-game mindset,” Chu said. “I think our team is definitely performing well, but we don’t consistently hit our potential. Yet I’ve noticed that every time we play harder teams, that’s when our best skills shine through.”
Chu continued to describe her thoughts about the teams she’s playing.
“I am so grateful to be playing challenging teams because it’s such a great experience to be playing against girls who are going D1. I’m always grateful to be playing teams that push us to play our best,” Chu said.
Senior Izzy Duggins described her thoughts about the team.
“I would prepare the team before games by making sure everyone stayed disciplined in warm-ups and got in the right, competitive, and confident. It was important to me that each player felt ready to go and confident in their abilities before we stepped on court,” Duggins said.
“I kept the team’s motivation by discussing things we were successful in during turnouts and in between sets, and going up to any player that looked like they were in their head and struggling mentally.”
According to Duggins, a lot of the work the team put in, including planning strategies and doing positional work, helped Ranch clinch third place in the league.
Duggins shared her feelings about the team and how they have prospered throughout the season.
“I feel this year our varsity team had a great bond on and off the court, and that really translated to our gameplay,” Duggins said. “We worked really hard to build our chemistry as a team and use our close connections with one another to keep each other motivated on the court supported during games. I think this contributed significantly to our success during the season and allowed us to get to the playoffs.”
As both Duggins and Chu played their final season for Rancho, Duggins shared some final thoughts about her senior year playing volleyball.
“I would just like to add that it was an amazing privilege to serve as one of the captains on the varsity team and I am grateful for all the experiences and friendships that being in the program for four years has provided for me,” Duggins said.
