Vikings sink Corsairs
Last Wednesday, the Santa Monica Corsairs men's volleyball team dropped another match as they played host to the Long Beach City College Vikings. The Corsairs came out of the gate strong, showing Long Beach a strong offense and a well-rounded defense while Long Beach made more errors, allowing the Corsairs to close out game one 25-23.
The second game seemed like two completely different teams. Corsair freshman setter, Daniel Penrod, attributed the complete turn around to a lack of defense. "We struggle as a team with passing and defense. We had too many unforced errors," said Penrod.
Long Beach's powerful offense picked up speed throughout the second game, with a lot of devastating kills hitting the floor just inches away from Santa Monica's defenders which led to a loss for the Corsairs 25-13.
The Corsair's blocking would have been a real asset to the team had Long Beach not been so consistent with covering their hitters. Every time middles Zach Brown, Blake Levin or Tyair Robinson successfully completed a block, Long Beach defenders were ready to pick it up, resulting in very few rally-ending blocks.
Sophomore Lance Kinningham led the Corsairs in kills in game three, with a creative combination of forceful hits and off-speed shots, the type of offensive play that Santa Monica needs more of.
But as Penrod explained, defense and passing is where every offensive play starts, and if those pieces aren't individually there, kills become more rare.
The third game was much closer than the second, but Long Beach still ended up with the win 25-22.
The fourth game, as Santa Monica's fourth games usually seem to go, showed a huge drop in energy on the Corsair's side. Long Beach was a "solid opponent," said Penrod.
Despite a timeout called by Santa Monica coach John Mayer, the Corsairs couldn't seem to pull it together, finally losing the game, and consequently the match, 25-13.
Middle blocker Tyair Robinson saw his first playing time during this fourth game against Long Beach, and he proved to be a potentially strong addition to the starting line-up.
"I think we've finally found a solid starting line-up that should help us start winning," said Penrod. As any team captain should, Penrod exclaims excitedly that he "absolutely can't stand losing anymore."
The Corsair's, with a finally solidified starting line-up, face off next against Santa Barbara City College on March 23rd at home.