City College men’s volleyball lost its second straight game at home to the Palomar College Comets on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Sports Pavilion.

The Comets (1-3) beat the Vaqueros 27-17, 20-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-17, earning their first win of the season as the Vaqueros (2-2) fell after a grueling five set match.

City College got off to a hot start and had to rally late to keep the match going but fell in the final set.

“It’s all mental,” said sophomore Evan Yoshimoto (No. 9).

Yoshimoto led the Vaqueros with 14 kills and seven digs.  His brother, Owen Yoshimoto (No. 2), finished with 13 kills.

City College controlled the first set from beginning to end and looked back to form after a disappointing loss to Orange Coast College Feb. 7, 3-0.

Momentum shifted once Palomar began to pull away halfway through the second set and didn’t look back.

What the Comets may have lacked in depth as a squad with only nine players, they made up for with endurance.

“We just weren’t there. First you got to get up there mentally, then the physical stuff comes with it,” Evan Yoshimoto said.

Middle blocker Cameron Fry (No.15) gave the Vaqueros some much needed energy in the fourth set as the Vaqueros were able to force a final fifth set.  The vocal freshman pumped his teammates with exuberance and a never-say-die attitude.

“We made a lot of errors, gave away a lot of points, and defensively we hadn’t seen this team on film, but there were things after the first set we had to make adjustments on,” said Matthew Jones, head coach.

“[We will] work on the things we struggled with tonight and attack the things we didn’t execute well,” Jones said.

The next home game for the Vaqueros is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, at the Sports Pavilion against San Diego Mesa College.