The City College men’s volleyball team lost to Irvine Valley College 3-1 Friday night in the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros came out knowing they had a tough game ahead of them given the Lasers are currently ranked the top team.
“We just came out after our team meeting and you know the focus was to just play with heart,” Kealakahi Spain (No.1) said. “No matter what, we go out and battle.”
After many errors made by the Lasers, the Vaqueros swept the board in the first set finishing with a final score of 25-13.
According to Spain, after making a few errors the game unfortunately didn’t end with the Vaqueros on top, but with a few changes in the future he hopes that the team will be one of the best in the league.
In the second set, the Vaqueros fell behind the Lasers. Coming together as a team, City College fought their way back into the game.
After a kill by Sean Reynaert (No.11), the score was tied 18-18. With another kill by Jarrod Jordan (No.5) the Vaqueros were back on top.
The Lasers came back strong and the Vaqueros ultimately fell short with a final score of 25-20 in the second set.
In the third set, City College was unable to gain a lead on Irvine Valley with a score of 25-9.
“They’re the number one team for a reason so we had to play close to a perfect game,” Sophomore Captain, Jonathan Baldwin (No.6) said. “I think we just have some mental lapses, late in the game we just get a little quiet. We have to remain high in energy and communicate a lot so the ball doesn’t drop and continue to take good swings.”
Baldwin said this game was a great step for them and they put in a lot of effort. He said conference starts next friday so the team has time to build.
The fourth set started off with a successful block made by Quinlan Dougherty (No.13) putting the Vaqueros on the board 1-0.
The Lasers maintained the lead throughout the set, but the Vaqueros never backed down. They never failed to put the pressure on following just a few points behind.
Ultimately, the Lasers came out on top finishing with a final score of 25-20.
“The win we’ll take away from this is that we came out and played a great first set,” head coach Jon Newton said. “We battled back all the way till the end, which was great on our guys.”
“We got them early and they’re the number one team for a reason,” Newton said.
The final scores of each match was 25-13, 25-20, 25-9, 25-20. Irvine Valley is currently ranked No.1 in the league, the City College is currently ranked No.8.
“Overall i’m proud of the guys in the way they battled, especially against a top team like that, it was a good performance,” Newton said.
The men’s volleyball teams next home game is Friday, March 17 against Moorpark in the Sports Pavilion.
