Harold Goldstein
Lackluster defense and net violations aided the Brahmas’ downfall, with Pierce College losing to the Long Beach Vikings 3-1 in their fifth Men’s Volleyball WSC Southern Division Game, March 26.
The first game was hot as both teams battled each other with strong kills and quick maneuvers.
Richard Barraza Jr. of the Brahmas stood out among the team with his quick-minded attempts to keep the ball from hitting the ground.
In the end, Pierce defeated Long Beach, 30-26.
The second game took a turn for the worse, however, with Pierce being trampled by Long Beach, which used tough defense and strong kill shots to win the game, 20-30.
“We got stuck in one rotation, gave up a few points, and from that point on, it was an uphill battle,” Barraza said. “It was kind of hard to get back.”
After the second game, things had gone downhill for Pierce as consistent net violations and fouls kept bringing them down.
The third and fourth games went by as an afterthought as Long Beach made good use of their defensive front line to block off Pierce’s kills.
Ultimately, Long Beach destroyed Pierce with 24-30 in the third game and 25-30 in the fourth.
It was a definitive letdown for the Pierce volleyball team who had prepped themselves constantly to be fully ready for Long Beach.
“We spent last week watching game films (of Long Beach),” Barraza said. “We studied their tendencies, prepared ourselves for everything that they (were going to dish out). But some things got transferred over and some things didn’t.”
Eddie Stanislawski, head coach of the Pierce men’s volleyball team, took the loss well, but didn’t find his team to be competing up to par.
“We came up short on the end,” Stanislawki said. “I thought we played strong in the first game and the fourth game but the other two, (we) didn’t do so good.”
With this being their fifth consecutive loss for the season, the team will learn from this game and then jump into their next practice sessions without a single thought.
“Now, we have to go into every (other) game knowing that we can win,” said Steve Umemoto of the Brahmas. “We can’t let down anymore. We just have to keep on pushing.”
The Brahmas’ next scheduled WSC Southern Division game will be against Santa Barbara, April 9 at 7 p.m.
Joseph R. Finnerty, left, attempts an attack over Long Beach City College Casey Bennett. (Jared Lorio)