Glendale College Lady Vaqueros Volleyball team improved to 6-2 with a gutsy win over visiting Chaffey College Sept. 21. The Lady Vaqs won three games to one.

Chaffey won the first game 30-22 after a very back-and-forth battle in which they seemed to find many holes on the Vaq’s side of the net. Glendale also gave away points throughout the match on poor serves.

However, Glendale bounced back to sweep the final three games 30-25, 30-20, and 30-15. Glendale came out in the second game very aggressively, attacking the net. Chaffey however played well enough to force ties many times through the second match.

The shift of momentum towards Glendale seemed to manifest when Chaffey player Sierra Diaz was injured while diving for a ball. Glendale used the delay to regroup and eventually pull the second game out.

“We really started to work as a team and it seemed almost effortless,” said Coach Yvette Ybarra. “Most importantly we started having a little fun as well.” The rally was due in large part to the play of Aya Nakano, an international student from Japan.

Nakano makes watching volleyball fun. After every play, no matter if Glendale is winning or losing, she smiles and laughs with her team. She does a good job of keeping the team loose. She is also an explosive and a very gifted player. When she is near the net she can’t be stopped.

Coach Ybarra also offered a lot of praise for her star player: “Aya brings a positive attitude and a strong will. She wants to give it her all and when she is having trouble in one area she finds another area to contribute. She has a good sense of the court, which I think helps the team.”

Glendale also relied heavily on the play of sophomore Krisheena Ellis from Lincoln High School and sophomore Susie Marco from Flintridge Prep. Ellis and Marco both had key blocks throughout the game that helped secure the win.

The one area that Glendale needed to improve on was serving. Often throughout the game the Lady Vaq’s had runs stopped by long serves. Coach Ybarra said, “We lost about 18 serves last game [against East L.A. College] and we were up around that again tonight.”

Nakano led the team in kills with 20 and digs with 13. She also added six service aces. Freshman setter Autumn Gomez also had a solid game leading the team in team blocks with two and assist with 45. Ellis led the team in solo blocks with three. Freshman Nicole Diller led the team with nine service aces and freshman Anne Figueroa added 11 digs.

The Lady Vaqs start Western State Conference play Oct. 12.