The men’s volleyball team fell to Western State Conference leader, Long Beach City College, 35-33, 30-22, 30-27, Wednesday night in Long Beach.

The Vaqueros were ahead 16-12 in the first game and kept the game close throughout, despite surrendering the lead they had built.

The game stood at 33-33 until Long Beach finally closed out the Vaqueros.

“The stats show we played a little better than they did (in the first set), but we didn’t pull it off,” said head coach Melody Parker.

After dropping the second game, the Vaqs again stayed close throughout the third before Long Beach pulled ahead to complete the sweep.

“We were neck and neck with them all the way,” said Parker. “If we sharpen up and become a little more discipline, we’ll have a better shot at them next time.”

Pete Aronchick led City College with 22 kills and Miles Evans added nine to his state-leading total.

The Vaqueros loss drops them to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in conference. Long Beach improves to 9-1 and 3-0 in the WSC.

The Vaqs’ next match is 6 p.m. tonight in the Sports Pavilion where they host WSC rival Santa Monica College.