Hopeful Comets lose three straight sets

After winning two consecutive games, the volleyball team was hopeful for sealing another win on Friday. Contra Costa College was unable to do so however.

CCC’s two-game win streak came to an end as the squad fell to College of Alameda in straight sets of 25-20, 25-16 and 25-14.

“We knew what we were getting into (against Alameda),” Comet outside hitter Jazmine Mendoza said. “They won and lost to the same conference teams as us. Tonight we went backward and it’s frustrating.”

The Comets (3-10 overall, 3-4 in the BVC) struggled throughout the game with their passing, execution and communication which prevented the squad from properly covering the court, blocking and setting spikes.

“We were not playing as a team and we played like we were not in the game mentally,” Comet setter Efaraima Danao said.

In the second and third sets the Comets came out strong and led the Cougars early in those sets.

Despite staying competitive during the sets, the Comets eventually hurt themselves by serving the ball into the net on multiple occasions, turning the ball over to COA.

“We were very flat. This was the worst game we played all year,” Comet coach Zachary Shrieve said.

CCC will play against Solano Community College (12-6 overall, 6-1 in the BVC) at home today at 6 p.m.

While it was obvious that Friday’s match was not the squad’s best performance, Comet players did what they could in a losing effort as Danao set up her teammates 11 times, the majority of those sets going toward middle blocker Jessica Neville.

Neville scored most of the Comet points while having limited opportunities.

“I can see that (CCC) can play better,” Cougar setter Matia Killgore said. “We were going point for point for a while and they have a mean middle blocker (Neville). We did what we could to keep her out of it.”

While things were going wrong for the Comets, causing frustration among the players, Shrieve never looked for any extra spark from his bench, playing the same rotation for all three sets.

Due to this, Comet players were fatigued and unable to win a set.

“Coach (Shrieve) plays who gives the team the best chance to win,” Mendoza said. “It would be nice if we could sub though.”

Substitutions were not the only problem the team faced, however, as the Comets could not execute whenever a scoring opportunity presented itself. CCC displayed this late in the third set as it fell behind the Cougars despite leading early in the set, forcing Shrieve to call consecutive timeouts.