City College’s men’s volleyball team took a tough 5 set loss against Santa Monica College on Friday, March 1 in the Sports Pavillion. 

The first set opened with a bang, with outside hitter and middle blocker Andreas Schuetz getting an ace on the first serve of the set. Schuetz continued to be a strong player throughout the first set, finishing with 5 kills. 

With the first set being within 3 points the entire game, players for Santa Monica College fought hard to come back into winning range. Outside hitter and middle blocker Cole Richards diminished any thought of a loss with a hard kill, causing players from Santa Monica College to slide off the court in attempts to return the hit. Schuetz finished the first set with a kill, bringing the score to 25-20 with a win for The Vaqueros.

The second set seemed to be in Santa Monica College’s favor, as they quickly came out with a 7-2 lead. With multiple service errors on Santa Monica, the Vaqueros came closer and took the lead. Richards came through with a back to back kill, knocking Santa Monica’s Zach Fuentes to the ground, bringing the set to a score of 11-10. 

Though Santa Monica fought hard to stay in the lead, setter Troy Fitzgerald fought harder with a back to back block, bringing the game back in City College’s favor. The game started to take a turn with City College’s first injury, libero Gabe Stopani who hyperextended his elbow. Stopani had to step out of the game, who was then replaced with libero James Ng. Ng immediately scored a point for City College, closing with a set two win of 25-20.

The Vaqueros only needed one more set to win, with the previous two sets under their belt, but Santa Monica came back in set three with a vengeance. Santa Monica immediately presented themselves as the frontrunner of this set, with a point one kill. One of the main scorers of the past two sets, Schuetz, who had been on and off the trainer table between sets, was pulled from the game with an ankle injury.

“I was able to contribute for the 2 sets I was in,” Schuetz said, “I knew I would be a liability on the court after that.”

Santa Monica finished the third set with a 25-22 win against the Vaqueros.

The Vaqueros were still in a position to win the game, only needing this set to win. Technical issues appeared in set four, with City College being called for being out of rotation. After Head Coach Bridget Kulesh argued with the referee who made the call, the call was taken away and the point was redone.

Richards fought through this rotation shakeup, having four kills in the fourth set, one of them causing Santa Monica’s Kody Castellon to go running off into the sidelines, in an attempt to return Richard’s hit.

“Through it we grew closer together rather than growing apart” Richards said, in regards to the  injuries and errors City College faced during this game.

Set four ended with a 25-21 win for Santa Monica sending both teams to the final set to determine the winner.

The final set of the game was a nailbiter, with no more than a one point difference between scores the entire set. It seemed the game could go either way, with both teams fighting for the win. The Vaqueros looked like they were heading for the lead, with Richards getting a kill, tieing the set 13-13. Though they stood their ground the best they could, City College could not keep fending off Santa Monica, and the set ended with a 15-13 loss for City College.

“We do a good job coming out of a loss knowing what to work on,” Richards said, “We repeat that over and over the next few practices so the same mistakes never happen again.”

City College’s next home game will be at 6 p.m on Wednesday, March 13 against Antelope Valley College.