First Home Game is “On Fire”
The Santa Monica College Corsairs Women’s Volleyball team played their first home game of the season against the Cuyamaca College Coyotes yesterday at the SMC Gym, winning 3-0. With only four sophomores returning from last season, this team of mostly-new players dominated the game, always keeping a comfortable scoring distance from the Coyotes. The score for the three-set match was 25-14, 25-11, and 25-7. As an added bonus, they were able to play their full roster.
Leading into the season, the team was beset by one problem after another. The repainting of the gym prevented practice at home until three weeks before the first game, requiring schedule changes. There were a few injuries. “We had a couple of starters who were ineligible, but we did return four sophomores, as well as a couple from injury,” said Head Coach Christian Cammayo. “So, we have eight returners, but in a kinda different format than what it looked like last year.”
Academic ineligibility is “too common,” Cammayo said. “It’s something that we’re really trying to, you know, crack down on this year, where we have study hall now, mandated.” Study hall was a pre-pandemic program, “and then we got away from it a little bit, and then now we see the need for why it needs to come back.”
Referring to the team’s two-game washout at the Mt. SAC Tri-Tournament, “We had a very frustrating last Friday,“ said Cammayo. “We did not play well, and so then to come back, on fire, was a really good sign. They played a lot better today.” Cammayo is looking forward to seeing the team grow and improve as the season progresses.
New to the team is Assistant Coach Chris Chown. A long-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Head Coach at Providence Christian College in Pasadena, “he’s had a tremendous impact already,” said Cammayo.
The Corsairs went on to play a second game that evening. Their next game is tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 8, against the San Diego Miramar College Jets at 2 p.m. in the SMC Gym.
