Taft College puts Focus on Breast Cancer Awareness Friday

by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller

Volleyball fans attending Friday's Taft College-Merced match in the Cougar Sports Center had better be prepared to see a lot of pink. 

The interior of the gym will be decked out in hundreds of pink ribbons as the Cougar team culminates its weeklong push to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. 

Players will be wearing pink. 

Admission for the 6 p.m. Central Valley Conference match will be a donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. 

Raffles and door prizes also are on tap. 

Coach Kanoe Bandy and her players annually sponsor a campus drive to create awareness and promote early detection. 

They hand out educational materials every day on campus, urge students and staff to wear pink and end the week with Fight Like a Girl. 

"It will be the culmination of the activities we've been doing all week," Bandy said.  "We have a lot of prizes donated for the raffles." 

The Cougars are currently in third place in the conference with a 4-2 record â€" 8-7 overall â€" after sweeping College of the Sequoias Wednesday night in Visalia.  The teams entered that match tied for third behind undefeated Fresno and Porterville. 

The scores were 27-25, 25-21 and 25-17. 

All four of the Cougars' CVC victories have been sweeps. 

"We didn't start out very well, but picked it up in the second game," Bandy said.  "We played so well against Fresno (last Friday), and our goal was to have back-to-back solid games.  We didn't do that, but did come alive in the second game." 
Freshman outside hitter Chanel Cantere again led the way with 13 kills to pace the offense and 16 digs on the defensive side. 

Setter Kerstyn Randall, another freshman, contributed 13 digs and was credited with 19 assists. 

Sophomore middle blocker Brittany Peterson had five stuff blocks to go with her nine kills.