Conference newcomer American Leadership Academy on Tuesday night swept the Marcos de Niza volleyball team in three sets, but coach Melissa Yee didn’t leave the home match discouraged.

The Padres lost the first set 26-24 after a lot of back-and-forth play where each team traded points on combinations of aces, kills, tips, and errors. The American Leadership Academy Patriots won the second set 25-23. The Padres rallied from a nine-point deficit with well-placed serves and kills, as well as errors from the Patriots, but the Padres never took the lead.

The Padres lost the third set 25-22. The final set showed communication issues from both teams after multiple balls were dropped and an overlapping penalty. Marcos de Niza started out behind, but quickly worked back into the game.

Even though each set ended in a close loss, the Padres still performed with a high energy Yee has looked for this season. Middle blocker and captain Hailey White had 13 kills. Olivia Craig, co-captain and setter, finished with 17 assists and five kills.

A surprising change happened before the game for Yee and her players. The girls were “literally on the court” when they found out they weren’t required to wear a mask during the game.

The game experience was different for players and spectators alike. The athletes waved to each other from opposite sides of the net and yelled “good luck” instead of slapping hands under the net. There wasn’t a student section, and spectators sat socially distanced in the bleachers for safety after getting their temperatures checked and answering questions at the gate.

The energy from athletes, coaches, and fans was still there. The gym was loud even with the limited capacity and the athletes thrived off it. “The energy we came with today was what I need to come with every single day,” Yee said. “Day in and day out.”

Looking ahead, the Padres look to improve on communication. Fall break is approaching, so they have time to work out the kinks. “What I’m expecting from us is more energy and more talk,” White said. “That can prove a lot. When we have the energy and the talking, we’ll be good.”

Since there wasn’t a student section, the captains were heard throughout the night urging the junior-varsity players to get involved. “I think the biggest part of it is just encouraging each other,” Craig said. “You feel so much better when you’re playing and you have supporters and people cheering for you.”

The Padres dropped to 1-3 but the losses won't put them down. Yee believes that “eventually the tide will turn” if the team continues to compete at a higher level. Maintaining the work ethic and mindset to compete against a challenging schedule was a big takeaway from Tuesday's game.

“We’re only going to get better,” Yee said. “Yes, we lost, but we’re going to learn from it. It’s never over.”