Hayden Garrett is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock High School. 

Despite a hard-fought and intense third set, McClintock volleyball fell to 1-7 after getting swept by Casteel on Oct. 14.

Slow starts to each set killed the McClintock Chargers, and the Casteel Colts capitalized on every mistake. Casteel won set one 25-9, set two 25-9, and set three 27-25.

The Colts came out strong in set one leading 6-0, and in set two, they led 5-0. Casteel’s strong serve receive and defense made it hard for McClintock to find a way to score. This led to the Chargers getting in their heads which only led to more errors.

In the third set, the Chargers looked like a completely different team. They finally had a rhythm on offense. After two slow starts, they finally came out strong, leading 11-7 early in the third set. The Colts managed to come back and tie it. From there on, it was a back-and-forth battle to finish the third set.

Sophomore Alyssa Drake had three aces in a row for McClintock, giving them a 21-18 lead. A quick block by the Colts and defensive errors from the Chargers tied up the game. An out of rotation call that was overturned gave McClintock a 25-24 lead. However, after a service error, the Colts took control of the next few points with an ace and miscommunication on the Charger’s side. The Colts were able to win the third set after being down or tied most of the set.

Senior Paola Perez- Mendoza said the way they were playing changed due to pressure being lifted. “I feel like it was just more about having fun,” Perez-Mendoza said. “In the beginning, we weren’t having any fun we were just playing the game. The pressure was off in the third set while we were winning.”

McClintock struggled to get a single kill in the first two sets, having many hitting and setting errors. However, in the third set, the team was able to get three kills and four aces. Two of the kills and three of the aces coming from Drake. 

“Our passes were better and we were getting it to the middle where it needed to go which helped,” Perez-Mendoza said on their offense clicking in the third set. She said the team was able to lift each other up and stay mentally ready by letting their teammates know they are there for them.

Chargers Isabelle Green and Denise Dengi were both missing for the game. Their absence hurt the McClintock offense as they are both startering hitters. Sophomore Sophia Franz spoke on how the team has had to adjust to their absence. “We kind of psyched ourselves out and got in our heads," she said. "We are playing with a new rotation because we have some players missing. Our only chance to practice this was the game last night.”

Assistant coach Chris Thomas was proud of the way the girls have come together to fill in different positions. “The girls have been dealing with a lot of adversity," he said. "The girls coming together and playing different positions and their flexibility has been our biggest improvement this season."

Casteel struggled to serve at times, committing eight service errors. Six of those service errors contributed to the nine-points McClintock had in the first set. However, their offense made up for those errors, with 14 kills and five aces. Carlee Wakefield led the way for the Colts with five kills and two blocks. Jadyn Orava had four kills.

With such a young team, it has been difficult for the Chargers to find a way to bring everyone together on the court. “It’s hard for everyone to come together with so many different levels of experience. We have gaps in each level which makes it hard to play to the standard we should,” Franz said.

Looking forward to the second half of the season, coach Thomas spoke on how they can get better. “We need everybody healthy,” he said. “They really just need to be comfortable and confident in playing together. As a team, you can always work together a little more.”