The men’s volleyball team lost its second straight match after a 2-3 (30-25, 33-31, 23-30, 31-33, 12-15) defeat against the Santa Monica College Corsairs Friday in the Sports Pavilion.
The loss dropped the team’s record to 8-5 overall, and 3-3 in the Western State Conference.
It was also the second straight match that ended with a 2-3 loss, with the team losing earlier in the week against Long Beach City College.
Coach Melody Parker said that the team has some work to do, “both mentally and physically.”
The Vaqueros took control over the match in the first game, when they swiftly moved up to a two-point lead at 9-7 after a huge block by David Vanderwerff.
The Corsairs came back and leveled the game at 15-15, but Bryce Winsor brought the lead back to Santa Barbara City College. The team stayed in control and Winsor had the final kill to bring home the game in favor of the Vaqs, 30-25.
Winsor had 25 kills in the match, but was not pleased with the loss.
“We just couldn’t get it together in the end,” Winsor said. “We let some bad calls get to our heads.”
In the early stages of the second game, the Vaqs gained a five-point lead at 9-4. Santa Monica didn’t give up, and took over the lead at 15-16, which forced City College to call timeout. The game was very close, but the Corsairs had a lot of unforced errors, and the Vaqueros won the game 33-31.
In the third game, Santa Monica took control in early stages of the game. They kept the plays short along with a fast pace. The Corsairs cruised to an eight-point lead at 14-22. The Vaqs tried to get back into the game, but did not come closer than seven points, which saw Santa Monica taking home the third game 23-30.
In game four, the Vaqueros were behind almost the whole game but tied it up at 24-24. Santa Monica had been in control of the game, but Santa Barbara seemed determined to swing things around. They managed to their first lead of the game at 27-26. But the Corsairs came back, and with a couple of questionable calls by the officials, won the game 31-33.
Parker said that she felt that they won the match in game four, but that you can’t blame a loss on the referees.
“We don’t win a game on one call, and we don’t lose a game on one call,” Parker said.
In the fifth and final game, the Corsairs took control with a two-point lead at 4-6. The Vaqs came back and tied the game at 7-7. The Corsairs regained focus, and finally won the match after 12-15 in the last game.
Middle blocker Mike LeGree said that the team must work on the fundamentals, “without fundamentals, you can’t win the game.”
