Jasmijn Dikmans is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Tempe High School for AZPreps365.com

After a loss against Cortez, two days later the Tempe girls volleyball team could not flip Wednesday night’s match into a win against Coronado. The Buffaloes lost 3-1.

In a match that lasted four sets, Tempe seemed to go through the game in waves. The team’s energy fluctuated, and its plays were inconsistent. Although the first set ended up being close and Tempe blew out Coronado in the second set, the Buffaloes could not turn it into winning the match.

“The energy was like very inconsistent,” Kiari Montanez-Woods said. “It wasn’t there at first and then it was there. And then it wasn’t there.”

Montanez-Woods, a senior who had eight kills during the match, said she was disappointed with the team’s performance. Tempe beat Coronado 3-0 earlier this season. Montanez-Woods said the energy in the second set was good and that the team was aggressive but did not manage to keep that flow throughout the whole match.

Brigitte Masoka, one of the two juniors, took the loss to heart. Despite having seven kills, she said it did not matter how the game went for her personally.

“A loss is a loss. It’s a team loss,” Masoka said.

However, the team did not look like a team Wednesday night. During the team meeting after the match, the room went cold and quiet. It took a while before the players spoke up. Senior Isamar Bustos Torres used the post-match talk to address the team's low energy.

“I get that some of you guys weren’t playing, but you guys still should’ve cheered for us,” Bustos Torres said to her teammates.

Doug Kiefer, Tempe’s head coach, recognized the inconsistency in the team’s spirit, too.

“Oftentimes we’re little islands among ourselves here,” he said.

After winning the second set 25-10, the Buffaloes lost their focus again starting the third set. They got behind 7-0. Five of those points were aces from Coronado. Tempe came back for a little while, making it 10-9, but still in favor of Coronado. However, after multiple bad passes by Tempe and hitting balls out, Coronado stretched the score to 19-11 before Tempe’s Kiefer took another time out.

It was not enough to convert the set and Coronado ended up winning 25-13.

“We got in our own heads,” Montanez-Woods said. “It was based on our mistakes and then we let our mistakes get to us.”

The Buffaloes also had to change their line-up before and during the match. Kiefer said their usual libero was not available. In the last set, Hailee Montoya became the libero instead of Bustos Torres. Kiefer said he thought the change might help the team and while it did in some plays, it was not enough to get the win.

The inconsistency is something the team has struggled with throughout the season. Comparing this team to last year’s team, Kiefer said it’s missing experience this year. That inexperience causes the team to be inconsistent, he said.

Despite the loss, the Buffaloes have something to look forward to. On Monday they will play their last home game against Desert Sunrise. It will also be senior day, when the seniors will be honored at their last home game.

After that, the Buffaloes will play one more away game, Oct. 30, against winless Yuma.