Loss marks men's volleyball second straight defeat

The Santa Monica College men's volleyball team was defeated in their own gym this past Friday, by the Golden West Rustlers in an exciting game that came down to the wire.

The visiting Rustlers won the opening set by the score of 25-19, but the Corsairs rebounded and won the second set by a score of 25-22.

However, the rustlers were too much to handle taking the last two sets by the scores of 25-18 and 25-12 respectively.

"I thought we practiced okay yesterday," said head coach John Mayer, "But it was definitely disappointing in the way we came out in the first set."

The first set was disappointing for the Corsairs as they made a series of mistakes missing several serves and hitting balls out of play allowing the Golden West squad to take the lead by the score of 9-4.

Coach Mayer called his first timeout as the Corsairs started to take control over the first set bringing the score even 10-10.

Unfortunately for the Corsairs, the Rustlers came back stronger and took the lead for the rest of the set, creating a deficit that was too much to overcome for SMC.

The Corsairs opened up aggressively in the second set with many well-played kills and aces from libero Martin Chiong and nice blocks from outside hitter John Murray.

Eventually the Rustlers surged to minimize the gap in the score, tightening it up to 20-19 but the Corsairs managed to win the set, 25-22.

At the opening of the third set, Coach Mayer was forced to call a timeout as the Rustlers took the advantage, 6-1. The Corsairs made some well-placed kills and aces, which brought the score up to 13-10 and forced Coach Tim Johnson call a timeout.

The Rustlers came out of the timeout aggressively and won the set with a score of 25-18.

In the fourth set, the Rustlers and their aggressive play were too much for the Corsairs who couldn't surpass 12 points for the rest of the set with the final score being 25-12.

Despite the loss Coach Mayer feels confident about the remaining games in conference. "We've got some injuries but as soon as we get everyone back I think that we can't lose and beat anybody," said Coach Mayer.