By Esteban Ramirez
Sports Editor
In its first year under Director of Volleyball Giovana Melo, the California State University, Bakersfield volleyball team soared to new heights as the team snagged its very first Western Athletic Conference Championship and made it to the NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament for the very first time.
The ’Runners struggled to find some consistency early on in the season, but they were able to gel at the right time, make team history and now have established a solid foundation to build from.
“It was a great experience,” Melo said. “We went through a lot, but it was definitely a good ending.”
CSUB (16-15, 9-6 WAC) went through some up and downs during the 2014 season, but were able to peak at the right time by winning three of its last four regular-season games and headed into the WAC Tournament with the number three seed.
Once in the tournament, which they hosted, CSUB was able to sweep No. 6 seed University of Texas-Pan American (25-8, 25-16, 25-18) in the first round.
They followed with a second-round victory against second-seeded New Mexico State University (21-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-20). Then in the championship, the ’Runners swept fifth-seeded Seattle University (25-21, 25-22, 25-17).
“The final moments were pretty indescribable,” Melo said. “It was very exciting to know that we accomplished something so big, and the way we did it we kept growing and growing to that moment and when it happened, it was an unbelievable feeling.”
Senior middle blocker Molly O’Hagan, who is also the co-captain of the team, said that the emotions after winning the WAC Championship were through the roof.
“It was just such an unreal feeling to have a goal be reached after four years of hard work and ups and downs because my career here has been a little different,” O’Hagan said. “I went through a couple of coaches, and it was just a great way to end. It was a very bittersweet feeling to win in our last home match in the Icardo Center.”
Redshirt-senior libero Mariah Alvidrez shared in the sentiment.
“It was very exciting,” said Alvidrez. “At the beginning of the year none of us knew how good we were going to be, to hear our coaches tell us we are going to be WAC champions it was a dream come true in the end.
“All my emotions were excitement. I kind of didn’t know what to do. I had tears of happiness, but it was cool seeing everyone celebrating and so excited because we accomplished our goal.”
O’Hagan added that she was happy to help bring the WAC championship to CSUB. “It’s just such a great trophy to bring home,” O’Hagan said. “We want volleyball to be a part of this community, and we want this community to be a part of this volleyball team. It was a great thing to play and win in front of such great fans.”
After winning the WAC Tournament and earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, the Roadrunners played the number one seed Stanford University in the first round. The Roadrunners lost to the Cardinal (21-25, 21-25, 18-25), but kept it close throughout.
“It was a great first experience of making it there and for the girls it was another great experience with another great feel of emotion,” Melo said. “We were playing the number one team at the time in their house with players that are All-Americans. We had all those odds against us, but we did a really good job. The girls stayed calm and played in a level that nobody really thought that we could’ve pushed a team like that, so it really showed all of our hard work from the season.”
After the season was over, CSUB recognized what Melo and the team accomplished under her first year and extended the coach’s contract by one year. She’s now under contract until the 2018 season.
“It was great because [it was] a big insurance to me that they were behind me,” Melo said. “I’m just thankful that the administration has my back and believes in what I can do.”
O’Hagan added that she only sees more WAC championships for future teams.
“We’re just going to keep getting that championship experience, and I see this program really developing, becoming a force to reckon with and becoming a very respected program not only in California but in the whole country as well. That’s the goal. We want to be a standout program, pulling in great recruits and pulling in alumni support, so I see this program exploding. It’s only up from here.”
