After two sets, the San Diego Mojo looked poised to secure their first three-set victory of the season.
Instead, the Vegas Thrill came roaring back with two victories in the third and fourth sets, forcing the Mojo to earn their victory in a grueling fifth set.
Led by their new star addition, Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani, the Mojo came into the fifth set strong and ended with a 15-10 win and their ninth victory of the season.
In just her third full game with the team, Bedart-Ghani finished with a team high 23 points, including 17 kills and three aces, helping to maintain the Mojo’s control in the match. Of these 17 kills, five came in the fifth set, giving the Mojo the attack power needed to close out Vegas.
“I just want to come in and help the best that I can, and if I’m able to do that, then I’m just happy to be able to do my job,” Bedart-Ghani said.
Along with the win taking five sets, the Mojo found themselves down early in both of the first two sets as they faced 5-0 and 7-2 deficits, respectively, yet found a way to secure wins in each set.
Head coach Tayyiba Haneef-Park pointed out the value of playing in their home gym when discussing their resilient play.
“We defended this house, taking pride in our arena. We only have a couple of matches at home, so giving the fans and community a good game.”
With Vegas looking to shut the door early on the struggling Mojo (9-15), the girls were able to fight back and regain control of the match thanks to serving runs from middle Regan Pittman (set 1) and setter Lee Da-Yeong (set 2).
Combining with these service runs was an awakened defense. The Mojo came into the match third in the PVF in blocks and first in digs. They utilized this to their advantage to dominate the net with blocks from middles Ronika Stone (3) and Regan Pittman (2), and digs from libero Shara Venegas (9) and outside hitter Kendra Dahlke (10).
Praising her team’s efforts after the hard-fought comebacks, Haneef-Park said, “We could’ve easily just rolled over and thrown in the towel for the season, but they showed up with that mental toughness to go the distance.”
After two comebacks to start the match, the Mojos’ biggest test came at the end of the second set when Thrill head coach Ramon Cruz received a red card for arguing with the referee, igniting the energy in Viejas Arena, but also his team.
Although this moment gave the Mojo their final point in closing out the second set, it rallied Vegas to two comfortable victories in the third and fourth sets, dimming San Diego’s hopes of a clean victory.
Despite the Thrills’ efforts, the Mojo were able to fend off a complete comeback. Haneef-Park credits star player Stone, who finished with nine points and three blocks, for motivating the squad going into the final set.
“Ronika handled the huddle, she got them fired up, that’s for sure.”
The win gives the Mojo a 2-1 season series lead against the Thrill going into their next match, a rematch with Vegas in their gym at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 25.
Hoping to secure a season series win against the Thrill and continue ending the season on a strong note, Dahlke said, “We have to bring it every time we have the opportunity to play a match, every time we have the opportunity to practice, just bring our best game forward.”
