By Johnathan Wheatley
Sports Editor
The CSU Bakersfield volleyball team (3-6) returns home for its first competition at home this season. It will be the first home game on the newly renovated Kern Schools court.
“Our first nine games have been a lot of lessons we learned. How to follow our system and apply it to games,” said redshirt junior setter Sidney Wicks.
The Roadrunners began the 2018 season with three round robin style tournaments, going 1-2 in each of the tournaments.
CSUB claimed victory over San Diego State University in the Aztec Invitational, UC Irvine in the UC Irvine tournament and Presbyterian at the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic.
“Beating SDSU and beating Irvine, which who we’ve never beat before, I think there are very good moments that were playing really well,” said head coach Giovana Melo.
All three wins for the Roadrunners went into the fifth set.
In five of its nine games, CSUB has been unable to record a single set, while the other four games have all gone to a fifth set.
In three of the six losses, the Roadrunners played two power five conference teams, Texas Tech University and the University of Georgia along with one group of five conference team, Air Force Academy.
The Roadrunners begin the Roadrunner Classic and a seven game home stand.
“It will definitely be helpful to have our home crowd and have their energy during the games,” said senior right side/ middle blocker Mattison Degarmo.
On Thursday, Sep 13 at 6 p.m., CSUB will play against UC Santa Barbara (6-3) to begin the Roadrunner Classic. Each game during the classic will have a theme, with the theme for Thursday game being Breakfast of Champions.
CSUB will return on Friday, Sep 14 at 7 p.m. to take on the University of Montana (2-7) with the theme of the game being Family Fun day.
The final matchup of the Roadrunner Classic for CSUB will be against the University of South Dakota (6-3). The Roadrunners will be lacing up for cancer in the final matchup on Saturday, Sep 15 at 5 p.m.
After the classic, the Roadrunners will start preparation for their first Western Athletic Conference game against University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (6-4) on Thursday, Sep 20 at 7 p.m.
“The Runner tournament will hopefully give us the confidence we need to begin the WAC. Being at home I think will make them a little more comfortable,” said Melo.
This will be a rematch of last seasons WAC tournament final in which CSUB defeated UTRGV, 3-1.
CSUB will face the 2017 regular season WAC champions, New Mexico State University (8-2), who the Roadrunners defeated in the semifinals of the WAC tournament, 3-1.
The Roadrunners will take a break from conference play as they host CSU Fullerton (6-4) on Tuesday, Sep 25 at 6 p.m.
The Roadrunners will finish the home stand Saturday, Sep. 29 at 1 p.m. against Utah Valley University (8-3) at the Icardo Center.
