With only two weeks left in the season, the Foothill College Women’s volleyball team went into their last home game on November 10th with a record of 13 wins and 14 losses; hosting Ohlone College whose team had a record of 14 wins and 9 losses.

With the hopes of a successful season and entrance to the playoffs pretty much extinguished, the team’s goal entering their last home game was to win at home one last time for their fans and the departing sophomores before closing out the season on the road.

During pregame workouts, the names of the sophomores were written on banners and hung on the walls to celebrate them at their last home game before their fans. The team had also made boards for each sophomore –Nise Salima, Courtney Foliaki, Nicki Ezatagha, Sydney Fishback, Hannah Fields, Kaite Wilcox, and Kathy Nguyen —  filled with notes, signatures, and sweet messages from their teammates they could take home.

A lot was at stake during this last home game, and the energy and emotions in the air reflected that. Foothills team came out of the gate with powerful plays, and easily captured the first set with a score of 25-14. But as the match progressed to the second set, possibly because Foothills team was too confident thanks to their dominant first set, the Ohlone Renegades returned and showed they were not willing to go down without a fight.

The momentum was continuously being swung back and forth between the two teams — with Foothill ahead, then Ohlone. But eventually, out of this back and forth fight to win the second set, the Owls took set two with a close score of 25-20.

After showing their resilience, the Owls looked primed to win the pivotal set three — which would clinch the Owls last home game of the season with a much sought after W. But this set would prove to be the toughest yet.

With the pressure to not give up their lead while still being only two sets into a potentially five set series, the Owls had to continue the style of explosive play they’d been demonstrating in the game thus far if they wanted to keep the game short. The third set paralleled the second with the Owls and Renegades neck and neck, which made for a very tense atmosphere — but the mistakes of the Renegades were steadily being exposed.

The Renegades, unable to staunch their steady bleeding of points, fell victim to the Owls — who like feathery sharks in the night pounced on the opportunity to widen the point difference and then some. The Owls ultimately came out with a 25-17 set win in the third set to sweep the Renegades three to zero.

With a big win to close out their home games for the season, the Owls fans were able to go home with joy and happiness. The team sophomores were also afforded perfect closure before they move to their next endeavors in life — division I volleyball, transferring out, or perhaps taking a break from the sport.

Although the season did not go the way the team and the coach wanted, there were multiple bright moments within the season that made it memorable; the biggest being this last official home game for the sophomores in their Foothill career, and the last home game for the fans this season.