The City College beach volleyball team is still searching for its rhythm after back-to-back losses Friday at East Beach.

The Vaqueros faced Moorpark at 9 a.m. and Santa Monica at 12 p.m.

Both matches were lost 0-5, but the team was at a disadvantage from the beginning.  

This is the first beach volleyball season for City College, and they only have 10 players on the roster.

Freshman player Annie Roger was out of town for the game, and freshman player Emma Taccone was sidelined due to illness, forcing the team to forfeit the five match in both games.

Because of the lack of players, the team had to move players up in the rotation in the three and four matches.

“I thought we competed well playing up,” head coach Samantha Calisto said.

Duo Jacque Ortegon and McKenzie Garrison played in the one match together for the first time today.

Unfortunately the duo was unable to capitalize versus the Santa Monica team that played efficiently at the end of both sets.

In the first set, the score was tied at 14-14 before Santa Monica went on a dominant 7-1 run to close the set 21-15.

The same narrative was displayed in the second set as Santa Monica took over down the stretch.

“I got in my head,” Garrison said about her play with Ortegon.

“The second game we had better chemistry,” Ortegon said. “We just need to be more disciplined and practice more together.”

The fresh duo will continue to mesh as the season continues, and the same goes for duo Emma Esparza and Grace Trocki.

Esparza and Trocki lost both matches but they stayed competitive losing 21-17 and 21-18 in their first sets.  

Calisto made the decision to bring Ortegon to the one match to explore different chemistry options for the team after the previous game at East Beach last friday.

Even though the team struggled to win this morning, Calisto said they were “playing to our strengths.”

“We like how this looks,” she said. “I think Jacque did a great job and Grace played the best defense of the day.”

The Vaqueros play another double header versus Moorpark and Victor Valley Friday April 5 at East Beach.