The Fa’asao/Marist Varsity girls varsity volleyball team used their height advantage together with the skills and knowledge of their senior players to extend their undefeated record for the 2015 ASHSAA Girls Volleyball league, by defeating the Tafuna Warriors, last week Thursday, during their first meeting for the season at the Tafuna High School gym.

The Warriors won the first set of the match 30- 28, but that wasn’t enough to stop Fa’asao/Marist from winning the last two sets, 25- 20, 15- 13.

Tafuna came fired up in the beginning of the first match, by producing some solid performances and attacks, which gave them the lead 15- 9 against Fa’asao/Marist.

Fa’asao/Marist Head Coach Lydia Faleafine-Nomura then called her team’s first time-out, which seemed to work, as her players came back on court with a change of strategy — using some of their tallest team mates to hit the ball to their opponent’s side and create a gap for them.

Both teams showed their best performances close to the end of the first set, which made the score even, 24- 24, but it continued until Tafuna Warriors won with a score of 30- 28.

Fa’asao/Marist took the second set from the beginning, and brought it home for the win.

In the final set, the score was tight at 13-13 all. However, Fa’asao/Marist showed their skills with one of their taller players hitting the ball from the side of the net, allowing last year’s champions the final two points of the game to win the match.

Speaking to Samoa News, Faleafine- Nomura said that she was happy about her team’s performance throughout the game.

“The season has just started and it’s a long way to go. Tafuna Warriors are one of the best teams in the league but I thanked my team for working together and followed the game plan that was given to them,” she said with a smile.

Speaking about her team’s preparation for the league, the 8-time Head Coach for Fa’asao/Marist said that her team has been together for quite some time, and they have been training hard for their one and only purpose — to win the championship.

“There are five seniors on our team, so it’s a veteran team with great experience, and they have been playing together for the last four years, so I expect them to do well. They are very disciplined, they know exactly what to do on the court, especially when other players are off their game plan, they can control the match and set the rhythm of the game to its level,” Faleafine Nomura explained.

She told Samoa News, “I’ve being teaching my team to learn how to be friends with each other, not only for our own team but for other teams too. When it’s time to play volleyball, we have to play the game, and when the game is over, then we’re all friends outside of the court. That’s the spirit of the sport that we coaches need to teach our teams.”

Faleafine-Nomura also said that this will be her last year as head coach.

Despite their first loss of the season, Tafuna Warrior’s Head Coach Telesia Fogavai still believes that her team can do better next time if they can correct some of the mistakes that caused them to lose the match.

“Most of our players are new, two of them are seniors but the rest of the team are all in Level 11, and I’m still trying to develop them and encourage them to do their best on the court,” said Mauigoa.

“We also got help from the Polamalu Camp and from there, the ladies were working and training together for the only purpose of being champions this year,” she noted.

When asked about team preparation for this year’s season, team captain Caroline Uitu said that the team has been together for some time now, and they are up for the challenge. “I know all teams are aiming for the titles and that is our goal too — we want to bring the championship to Tafuna this year and that’s why we’re working so hard everyday with our training, because we want to become champions.”

When asked if there’s any team that they have to be wary of, Uitu smiled and said, “All teams are well prepared but I think if we try to minimize our mistakes during each and every match, I think we are the only team that other teams have to be wary of.”

Fa’asao/Marist is taking an early lead in this new season with six points and two wins, followed by Fagaitua Vikings and Leone Lions with one win, one loss each for the Varsity.

For the Junior Varsity, three teams are tied with one win each — Fagaitua Vikings, Tafuna Warriors and Leone Lions.