Following their win against Piedmont High School last Wednesday, Aug. 28, the undefeated girls’ varsity volleyball team continued their success streak on Saturday by winning their first match against the Albany High School cougars in a Labor Day weekend tournament, securing a 25-16 victory for both sets. 

During the first set, both teams battled until Redwood gained a one point lead. The 4-3 lead, though small, continued to grow as a result of executed kills and digs. According to senior defensive specialist Soffia Ramsey, the lead can partially be attributed to the intense cheering from the team which resulted in a 25-16 win for their first set.

“The cheering motivated us to continue with our momentum [which] got us [the] win,” Ramsey said. 

In the beginning of their second set, Redwood once again struggled to maintain a lead early on. According to Ramsey, the point by point battle was due to some “mistakes” made on the court. 

“I think we were just getting out all of the mistakes early on. We were in [a] point by point battle because we were making mistakes and they [Albany High School] were making mistakes,” Ramsey said.

However, the teams managed to tie the score at 5-5. Redwood then scored and maintained a lead, leaving very few scoring opportunities for Albany to catch up. 

Sophomore Sterling Fischer, a setter, was able to help her team organize clean passes, sets and spikes which advanced the score.

“If you don’t have a good pass, then you can’t get a good set, and then you can’t get a good hit. It’s like a domino effect, at first if you don’t have a good pass, then everything else won’t work,” Fischer said.

Redwood won the second set with the same score as the previous set, 25-16, which resulted in them winning the match. This newfound confidence after beating Albany set the tone for the rest of the day as the team went 4-0. 

The Redwood girls’ varsity volleyball team beat Albany, Drake, Marin Academy, and Piedmont that day. The wins in the tournament was a huge confidence boost for the Giants, but the team wants to remain focused on improving each player’s individual game. They are constantly re-evaluating the skills they can improve on, even while remaining undefeated.

“For me, I am not super focused on just the winning, I am more focused on what I am doing wrong and how I can fix it,” Ramsey said. “I think that mentality is how our team is looking at [the season]. It’s like we are never satisfied mentally. We always want to do better.” 

Senior captain Lucy Walsh, a setter, is excited to build off Saturday’s wins by carrying their energy and team dynamic to the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) games.  

“I am really excited to get started and to play teams in MCAL’s…because our team dynamic is a lot better this year and all of us get along really well. We all have a lot of fun on the court,” Walsh said.

On Thursday Aug. 22, the Giants will face the Marin Catholic Wildcats at Marin Catholic.