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Cathie Lawrence

Outside hitters Lindsay Baynes (4) and Taylor Scriven (3) slap hands after a point.

The No. 16 seed Los Medanos College Mustangs volleyball team headed to Cabrillo College in Aptos Tuesday, Nov. 26 to face off against the No. 1 seeded Seahawks, who are the defending state champions. Cabrillo showed why they were the top seeded team by sweeping the Stangs in three sets, 25-12, 25-14 and 25-8. With the win, Cabrillo improved their spotless record to 28-0 while the Mustangs end their season 14-12 while sporting an 11-3 conference record.

Despite the loss, head coach Lou Panzella was satisfied with what he saw from the team.

“I was pleased with our effort. Our girls worked hard, they battled to the end. We just lost to a much better team, there is no shame or embarrassment in that,” he said.

Seahawks head coach Gabrielle Houston-Neville was also pleased with her squad.

“I am proud of the girls,” she said, adding “I felt like they played very steady so I was really happy about how they played.”

Mustangs Outside Hitter Taylor Scriven spoke highly about Cabrillo’s strengths, and echoed how happy she was with the team’s accomplishments this season in making the playoffs.

“They are an undefeated team for a reason. They are a very strong team and they don’t make many errors. I’m just really proud we got here,” she said.

Panzella has seen his squad improve each year during his three years as the head coach, finishing with records of 4-17, 11-13 and 14-12 and hopes that making the postseason this year will give them something to build on for next season.

“It’s been an awesome season. For how we started the year and where we are now, I am extremely happy for our girls that we got here. It would have been nice to have a fairy tale ending, but fairy tales are just that, fairy tales. We played well, we have something we can build up for next year,” he said.

The season is a definite success since it was the first time the Mustangs made the playoffs in 11 years.

LMC also shined in several statistical categories, such as finishing 1st in total attacks with 3,554, 5th in digs with 1,795 and 6th in assists with 1,055.

For more information on LMC volleyball contact head coach Lou Panzella at [email protected] or call him at 925-473-7610 or 510-685-1784.