Linfield Wildcats vs. Pacific Boxer

Cassandra Martinez, For the Review

Linfield Wildcats Women’s Volleyball once again proved why they are the ultimate team. These ladies were amazing at their game on Oct. 10 against the Pacific Boxers.

The warm-ups showed how fierce these ladies were when they spiked those volleyballs, sent them smashing to the other side of the net. They also wore pink uniforms to show support in breast cancer awareness month.

The game starts and our wildcats took the lead; the volleyball would be flying across the net; smashing into the gym floor and then the cheers would fill the gymnasium. The audience knew that they were in for a show and they showed their wildcat spirit. The team had each other’s backs and you could see that they developed the perfect close group.

Back to the game, the Wildcats would always be at a two-point lead; the Boxers tried to catch up but they were short of doing so. The first set wrapped up with the Wildcats at 25 and the Boxers with 18.

Then for the break before round two, Zeta Tau Alpha had organized a fundraiser for the audience to hit a pizza box with the volleyball from one side of the net to the other.

If someone was able to hit the box, they would get a coupon for pizza. Then round two, our Wildcats were the ones trying to catch up to the Boxers. The Boxers put up a fight but they weren’t matched for the mighty Wildcats. The Wildcats performed powerful passes and spikes; leading to the ultimate break through and taking the lead. It was a suspenseful one, but the team was able to win set two with a total of 25 and Pacific with 21. Talk about a close one!

Lastly, round three starts and the Wildcats took it home. They were holding the other team off; stopping them from scoring points by saving and spiking the ball to the They were practically beat the Boxers with a score of 25-16. The crowd went wild and everyone who attended had an excellent experience in witnessing the victory of the Linfield College Women’s Volleyball team. After the event, we were able to catch some of the players, who contributed to the big win. One of them was Freshman Danielle Spirlin, who is the middle blocker for the Wildcats.

“What is the thought in your head when you’re playing volleyball?” Spirlin replied, “The thought is always to do my job. Whatever I have to work on in that play, whatever its being up with the setter, blocking the hitter, thinking where my body has to be, how fast I need to be there, greeting the hitters and the setters.”

The other player we had a chance to talk to was Senior Kailana Ritte-Camara, who is the outside hitter and we asked what her definition of teamwork was.

“My definition of teamwork is within a team, we have individuals and each individual have to contribute a role on a team. So if everyone contributes their part, then were gonna succeed. So that’s my definition of a team,” Ritte-Camara said.

Then we were able to talk to the man who coached our Wildcats to victory Shane Kimura, who was asked how he motivates his team to do their best.

“Well, we got a good group of kids on our team who push each other. So, you know, it hopefully that helps us to compete. We got kids on our bench that are good players, so when you have that in practice it makes everyone better,” Kimura said.

Catch the Wildcats at their next Home game on the Oct. 15 against Willamette and bring your game face.