Chrystal Stone is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Central High School for AZPreps365.com

Central’s new girls volleyball roster was unable to find its rhythm, losing in straight sets, 13-25, 24-26, and 21-25 to Metro Tech on Thursday.

The Bobcats rolled out a brand new roster for the match. Central coach Laura Phillips said she cut six players on Wednesday due to violations of the team’s code of conduct. 

“We’ve got a whole new set-up for all of our teams tonight,” Philips said ahead of Thursday’s match. “We’re gonna lose a lot of our school spirit and we’re gonna lose our hype."  

The Bobcats also lost their rhythm as the sudden changes to the roster forced Phillips to shift players into different positions. Junior Abigail Hernandez had been playing as a libero in the team’s recent matches. She was moved to a setter position. Sophomore Yvette Sigelnski  had been playing as the team’s setter. She was moved to the outside hitter position. 

Several players from Central’s junior varsity team were also brought in to fill out the varsity squad. 

“I think we’re still in a little bit of shock,” Hernandez said. “We have to put more effort into this to make it all work. Now we’re moving JV girls up to varsity. It’s going to be a new system we have to go off of. So, we have to make sure everybody is comfortable playing with each other.”

Finding comfortability and establishing chemistry proved to be a tall task for the Bobcats. At times they appeared out of sync and struggled communicating with each other on the court. 

Metro Tech dominated the first set, jumping out to a 10-3 lead. Phillips took a timeout early as things started to unravel. However, the Bobcats continued to struggle. Committing six hitting errors, they seemed unsettled. Metro Tech took advantage of Central’s slow start. Aided by three kills from senior middle hitter ​​Emily Pavan Carranza, Metro Tech sailed away with a 25-13 win.  

“I think it just threw us all off guard and we really weren’t ready to play like that,” Sigelnski said. “It’s just us needing to be more adaptable and adjustable.”

The Bobcats put up a stronger effort in the second set. Down 4-6 early on, they went on a six-point run which included two aces from senior Amada Lopez and two kills from senior Savara Owens.

Metro Tech climbed out of the hole with strong serving from junior Daphne Lugo Duarte. Her serves made passing difficult for the Bobcats and took them even more out of rhythm. Central rebounded with two more aces from Lopez and three kills from Sigelnski. With Sigelnski at the service line, they took the lead at 24-22. 

Sigelnski’s next serve went out of bounds and so did the Bobcats’ chance of winning the set. Metro Tech’s junior libero Alexa Diaz sealed the deal with three straight aces to give the Knights the second set victory.

In the third set, Central jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with three aces from Sigelnski. Her run ended with a costly serving error, and Metro Tech’s junior Alyennah Olivares responded with an ace. Diaz’s service game unleashed a six-point run for the Knights. But hitting errors showed up again late in the set for the Bobcats and Metro pulled away, winning 25-21. 

Despite the loss, Central finished with 17 kills. Sigelnski contributed seven, junior Clarice Johnson had four and Janiah Gary chipped in three. They also tallied 48 digs, including 13 from Hernandez, nine from Lopez, and eight from Kim Garcia. 

“It’s different because I feel like some of us are used to working with certain people, so we know how they play,” said Savara Owens of Central’s team chemistry. “We know who we can trust. So I feel like it’s something we’re getting used to. But, I can see the improvements that we'll make as we get to work together longer and get to know each other better.”

Central (0-5, 1-6) travels to South Mountain to face the Jaguars (3-3, 3-3) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Metro Tech (2-1, 3-2) hosts North Canyon (2-2, 2-3) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.