City College volleyball’s winning streak was cut short at four wins after dropping Wednesday evening’s contest with the Long Beach City College Vikings 3-1.

The Vaqueros picked up the first set 25-18, before losing the next three 17-25, 24-26 and 19-25.

“We played well in the first set,” said sophomore outside hitter Taylor McCluskey. “But they made a lot of errors, and almost gave us that set pretty easily.”

City College was led offensively by McCluskey who amassed 18 kills, along with freshman opposite hitter Jackson Wopat who added another 11 kills and sophomore middle blocker Robert Gulvin who added nine kills of his own.

“We got out served and out passed tonight,” said head coach Matt Jones. “That’s a good team and we have to get them out of system to be efficient.”

The first set remained close until the Vaqueros jumped on a 9-3 run to give themselves an eight point lead, making the score 22-14, the largest they would have during the match. City College went on to close out the set 25-18.

“We missed too many serves,” said McCluskey about the Vaqueros 12 missed serves. “Not even getting the chance to get the point just kills us.”

The teams traded the lead four times in the second set before the Vikings went on a 15-3 run behind the serving of Joshua Nehls and Austin Amian to make it 22-11. City College picked up six more points before the Vikings closed out the set.

“…then they made a lineup change,” said Jones. “Their ball control improved a lot after they made those changes.”

In the third set neither team was capable of extending its lead past three points. City College tied it up at 21, then took turns trading points with the Vikings before Andrew Pearson registered two consecutive kills to wrap up the third set.

“We just couldn’t stop Andrew Pearson,” said McCluskey. “He hit the ball around us, I feel like we needed two blockers on him.”

The fourth set was another close one as the teams took turns tying the score 11 times. After breaking the 15-15 tie, the Vikings refused to surrender the lead and went on to close out the frame 25-19.

“It’s a little frustrating getting a loss,” said McCluskey. “But coach thinks they’re the best team in the conference. He said that should be a confidence boost for us, that we could play that well and miss that many serves.”

City College was led defensively by McCluskey and freshman libero Matt Bohorquez who each registered 15 and 14 digs respectively. Jackson Wopat and Haward Gomes each added another six digs along with Kyle Smiley who also added six digs of his own and set a new season high with 45 assists.

The Vikings were led offensively by Andrew Pearson who tallied 23 kills and also by Joshua Nehls who added 14 kills of his own.

City College plays its next match at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 4, at Santa Monica City College.