Girls Volleyball: Encinal Fades Against Albany

Albany 3, Encinal 0

Records:  Encinal 0-7, 0-5 Bay Shore Athletic League, Albany 16-4, 10-0.

The Star:  Alana McDonald had ten kills, five blocks and a kill for Encinal.

The Turning Point: After the Jets lost a hotly contested first set, Albany turned up the heat and dominated the last two sets.

The Quote: "(McDonald) is basically the catalyst of our offense. What we need to do is to get the other girls to follow suit, and that's the hardest part because she's the only club player on our team," Encinal coach Chris Bautista said.

Who's Next? Encinal hosts St. Mary's Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The Bottom Line: The Jets look to snap their winless streak at home against the Panthers.

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Chris Bautista liked the intensity that his Encinal High girls volleyball team showed in the first set of its match at Albany on Tuesday.

Unfortunately for Bautista, it didn't carry over to the second and third sets.

The Jets fizzled after a competitive first set, and fell to the Cougars in straight-sets 26-24, 25-8, 25-10.

"I think it was attributed to a lack of intensity," Bautista said.

Encinal certainly didn't lack it in the first set.

Alana McDonald pushed the Jets' lead to 18-16 with an ace, but Albany's Kyra Holt answered back with two-straight kills to tie the match at 18.

Ultimately, the Cougars would get the upper-hand on the set.

"I always believe if you want to be a good championship team or just a good team in general you have to copy the other good teams," Bautista said. "Our intensity in the first game was right where we needed to be."

But Encinal couldn't carry the same energy into the next two sets. Albany ran away with them to finish the match.

"Then all of sudden in the second and third game we just kind of ran out of juice and everybody just started to slow down a lot," Bautista said. "I think that's what happened today. Our consistency needs to be brought up to a level where we can be comfortable."

McDonald finished with ten kills, coupled with five aces and one block. She agreed with her coach.

"In the first set we had more energy," she said. "And after that we kind of got a little depressed maybe, and we let it go, and our passing went along with it."

The Jets have four matches left this season, and their best chance to win a match could be a road meeting with also winless Holy Names on Oct. 18.

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