Lady Seahawks fall short to Miami-Dade

By Igor Mello
Editor-in-Chief

In most sports looking ahead on the schedule could hurt a team, but not according to volleyball assistant coach Michael Zarate

In a dead-lock race for second place in the Southern Conference, the Lady Seahawks volleyball team stumbled to nationally ranked Miami-Dade College in straight sets (25-13, 25-16, 25-13).
“Everything must start with communication. Our communication today was absolutely horrible,” said Zarate, who is in charge of the team while head coach Caitlin Faulk is on maternity leave. “We have to be playing our absolute very best in order for us to compete with them.”

This was Broward’s third straight loss as they drop to 9-4, 5-3 in the Southern Conference. Only the top two teams in the conference are awarded a playoff berth for the state tournament.
With first place out of reach, Zarate feels the team must focus on defeating Palm Beach Community College (PBCC).

“We were hoping to use this match as good way to practice to get us ready for Palm Beach [Community College]. The result wasn’t as good as I was hoping for it to be, but that is what practice is for,” said Zarate.

Freshman right side hitter Allorie Sanders also felt that it wasn’t necessary to beat MDC.

“To be honest, it wasn’t that important. Our main competition that we need to focus on is Palm Beach [Community College] right now,” said Sanders.

PBCC is currently in second place, slightly ahead of the Lady Seahawks in the standings. Both teams have split the season series at one game apiece. The ladies will play host to PBCC. one more time on Oct. 22.

The team seemed to disagree about whether Miami-Dade’s long winning tradition is a factor on the court. Sanders admits that Miami-Dade intimidated her team and had a mental edge over them despite Zarate stating otherwise.

“They’re pretty big if you haven’t seen them,” said Sanders referring to the Miami-Dade players. “We just thought about how they did in the past… it got to our heads.”
Freshman outside hitter Jessica Mendoza also feels that intangibles such as mental edge can affect her sport.

“Volleyball itself is a very mental sport. It’s just a swing of momentum,” Mendoza said.
According to Mendoza, this team has the potential of being special and can possibly compete with the top notch teams in the state tournament.

“I think we all have our mind straight and that’s where our goal is. We all want to get to the top and we want to make it far. We don’t want to end our season here,” she said.

With only two remaining home games on Oct. 20 against Indian River State College and Oct. 22 against second place PBCC, home court advantage will be crucial for the Lady Seahawks.