by Luke Shanafelt
The Lumberjacks suffered a tough three-set loss to Dominican University on Saturday, Sept. 13. With final scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-14, Dominican held the Jacks under 20 points in every set.

Middle blocker Isabella Hartwig transitioned to the opposite hitter position and performed well, recording five kills. Fellow middle blockers Phoebe Bland and Rahni Greene also made strong contributions at the net. Greene posted a 0.214 hitting percentage, while Bland led with a 0.300.

When the Jacks were getting a good pass in-system, the balls were going down. However, despite strong efforts from the middle blockers, the Jacks struggled to consistently put the ball away. The team finished with a 0.053 hitting percentage, compared to Dominican’s 0.193.

The Jacks have some growing pains to work through as staff adjust to the new team. Joining the staff this season is volunteer coach Braeden Ferrone, who played at Orange Coast College under legendary coach Travis Turner. Ferrone said the team is still working to find the right lineup, especially while not yet at full strength. 

“There’s some work to be done, and we hope to see some progress in the next few games,” Ferrone said. 

Be on the lookout for upcoming volleyball games. The Jacks play Cal State Los Angeles at home on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. and Cal Poly Pomona at home on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. 

Luke is a senior journalism transfer from SoCal who enjoys video editing, music journalism and man on the street interviews.