YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - The Yuba City Honkers varsity volleyball team kept themselves in playoff contention on Thursday, October 6, with a three-set sweep in a Capital Valley Conference (CVC) match over the River Valley Falcons.

In a packed gym with peers behind them, it was a new experience the Lady Honkers weren’t used to, Yuba City (8-10, 4-3 CVC) head coach Jenny Dove told the Territorial Dispatch.

River Valley (7-16, 2-4 CVC) struggled in the month of September where they went 2-12. However, Lady Falcons head coach Kellie Tongson told the Dispatch that the match against Yuba City was the first time she had all of her players in their given positions due to previous injuries.

The Lady Honkers won the first set 25-14.

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With four games left in the regular season for River Valley, senior captain and libero Tara Benkowski told the Dispatch she wants her team to have fun and play all out.

“I can start by going all out myself and keep encouraging the team,” Benkowski said.

Fellow senior captain and outside hitter Jillian Posanek told the Dispatch she wants to see positivity and fun from her team for the rest of the season. 

“I want to enjoy it. I don’t want to see any negativity. It’s my last year so I wanna have fun and keep the positive energy,” Posanek said.

She added that during the third set, you could see the Lady Falcons starting to mesh well with one another.

As she fought tears back, Tongson said she coached Posanek and Benkowski as freshmen on junior varsity all the way to varsity in their sophomore to senior years.

“They’ve never stopped leading, they embody the all-out attitude,” Tongson explained.

Yuba City freshman captain and setter Emily Smith told the Dispatch that the win over River Valley built more confidence as the Lady Honkers are currently on a five-match win streak.

“You still need to make it one game at a time, because no matter what the record is, everyone is going to show up the same,” Smith said.

She added that the support from her fellow students felt good because they worked hard as a team to get the students to come out and support them. According to Smith, their presence changed the game for the Lady Honkers playing against their rival. Smith had 15 assists, eight digs and three kills in the match.

Yuba City won the second and third sets 25-22 and 25-21.

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Dove said even though her team won, she still thinks that they can be better.

“We need to fix our mental mistakes,” Dove said.

She added that the support was nice to have, but it shouldn’t dictate how they play their game whether it’s two people or 500 in the gym.

The Lady Honkers have two regular season matches left with the next one this Thursday, October 13, when they host the Bella Vista Broncos (14-5, 6-2 CVC). Yuba City lost in straight sets to the Broncos on September 20.