One hit linesmen. Six departing sophomores. One ball stuck in a basketball hoop. Three dominating sets. One win.

That was pretty much the story of the night when the Lady Trojans’ volleyball team served Hartnell a whooping in their last home game of the regular season on Nov. 1, winning the game in three swift sets in dominating fashion.

“I’m really proud of the play-choice they [players] ran,” said Trojans Coach Rayannah Salahuddin. “We were able to shut down Hartnell pretty quickly.

The Trojans scored three straight points in the first set, and that quickly set the tone for the entire game. The Trojans never looked back after that, easily winning the first set by a score of 30-18.

In the second set, it seemed as though Hartnell was coming back with a vengeance. They played a lot more aggressively; diving more for balls, doing a better job of returning volleys, and matching the Trojans point for point. However, the fans in attendance soon realized that this was nothing more than a façade from Hartnell. After a short volley, one of the Trojans hit the volleyball too hard and it flew up in the air and got stuck in the basketball hoop that was hanging in the rafters. This was a key moment in the game because it seemed to slow down Hartnell’s momentum, as the Trojans responded with three kills in a row.

Soon after, the coach for Hartnell called for a timeout to recollect his group and try to stop the Trojans’ fury, but even the Trojans knew there was nothing to worry about. During the timeout, all of the Hartnell players looked drained and circled around their large Gatorade jug, as the Trojans laughed and smiled continuously while hitting volleys to one another.

The timeout didn’t do any good. The Trojans sneaked in a couple more points, as they slowly pulled away and won their second set in a row, 30-15.

The third set was filled with nothing but more of the same. However, an innocent linesman was pegged in the leg as a result of a Trojan kill. Other than that, the results didn’t change, as Peggy Chong had three aces and led the Trojans offense to a 30-15 win. The Trojans dictated the entire set, picking up the pace by diverting from long volleys, but making quick kills, as Hartnell had no answer to stopping the Trojans.

“The key players were definitely Peggy Chong and Serah Pele,” said Coach Salahuddin. “She’s [Pele] a pounder and she definitely puts the ball down when it needs to be.”

Promptly after the set, Coach Salahuddin came off the bench and spoke to the crowd, announcing the unfortunate departure of six of her sophomore players who will no longer be on the team because of their ventures to new schools. Two of the players, Pele and Chong, will be leaving Skyline to play for Division II schools.

“It’s kind of sad,” said Pele, when asked about her feelings of playing her last ever game at Skyline. “I didn’t want it to end on an easy game. I wish they [Hartnell] had won a set so that we could’ve played longer. But it’s still really sad.”

“I’ll miss my sophomores because it’s my first year [coaching the team],” said Coach Salahuddin. “They [volleyball program] took a lot of risks because I made a lot of the recruiting calls. They [players] have a special place in my heart.”

As of now, the Trojans have a small chance of getting into the playoffs, but they need some help from other teams to get in. Currently, they are on a three-game road trip.

Entertainment Editor Jesus Hills contributed to the report.