In a playoff atmosphere, teams are always looking for a good start to establish themselves.
Saturday night, the San Bernardino Valley College women's volleyball team got one.
The Wolverines opened a quick 5-0 lead in the opening game, and used that momentum and confidence to pick up the team's first postseason victory in 22 years as SBVC advanced to the second round with a four-set victory over Riverside City, 25-16, 25-18, 16-25, 25-12.
Saturday's game was also the first home playoff game in as many years, when current athletic director, David Rubio, was the team's head coach. SBVC will travel to face No. 3-seeded Moorpark College on Nov. 26.
The fast start was just what SBVC coach Robert Vansant was hoping for from his team, but it didn't mean that they were perfect. Riverside rallied to take the third set, which Vansant used as a reset button for his team.
"I was really happy with set one and two, set three they played a lot better, and we didn't play as well," he said after the game. "And in set four, I thought we did a really good job of handling everything they tried to change."
The message to his team between the third and fourth set was a simple one.
"Just stay the course, play to our standards," Vansant said. "Don't try do anything that we haven't done all year."
Riverside looked to carry its momentum into the fourth set, taking the early 2-0 lead on serve. But the Tigers were never able to pull away, Tied at 5, Manaia Mamea stepped to the service line and the Wolverines ran off four points to take a 9-5 lead. After a pair of side outs, Destiney Parker took her turn at serve, and SBVC rattled off four more points to take a 14-6 lead, causing Riverside to take a time out. After another pair of sideouts, Loleaulelei Mamea helped put the game out of reach, as the Wolverines went on a seven-point run, taking a 22-9 lead.
SBVC rolled in the first set, converting on 60.7 percent of its attacks, posting 19 kills in winning 25-16. In the second set, the offense again was strong, earning 17 kills as a team. The Wolverines ended with 56 kills in the match, with Manaia Mamea leading the way with 23 in 41 attempts, with four errors (46.3 percent).
Lole Mamea added 15 kills, as the sisters climb the all-time kill leaders in SBVC history. Setter Christina Muller - who was at the serve line for the opening five-point run in the first set - had 37 assists and three kills of her own. Destiny Allen and Lole Mamea each had a solo block and three block assists in the win. Outside hitter Emily Valencia contributed six kills and led the team with 15 digs.
