Entering the state top-25 for the first time since 2007, the Ventura College volleyball team was unable to continue the momentum of last week's victories in their 25-21, 26-24, 25-27, 25-6 loss to Moorpark Wednesday at the Athletic Event Center. Sarah Veloz led VC (8-6, 2-2) with 12 kills on the night.
The Pirates seemingly were still enjoying last week's victories when the match began, as the Raiders capitalized on Ventura errors to jump out to a 7-2 lead early in the first set. Veloz served an ace and Makeda Pelle had a kill to bring VC to within 7-5, but Moorpark reeled off the next five points to take a commanding edge. MC extended the advantage to 17-10 and 23-15 before the Pirates showed some signs of life. Mehgan Lambert, who missed Friday's match with an ankle injury, came off the bench with three strong kills to pull Ventura to within 23-20, but a service error ended the Pirate run. Moorpark took the set 25-21.
VC jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the second set, but the Raiders came back to go ahead 7-5. Tori Hiott had a kill to tie the score at 13-13, and a Veloz kill made the score 19-16 for the Pirates. Pelle had a block and Lambert scored on a tip to put Ventura ahead 24-20 on the verge of leveling the match. Moorpark had other ideas, however, scoring the final six points of the set to take a commanding 2-0 lead with the 26-24 set victory.
The third set was close early, with the teams tying at 10, 11 and 12. MC took a small lead at 17-15, and were on the verge of sweeping the match with a 21-17 count. Ventura came back, however, with six of the next seven points to take a 23-22 lead. The Pirates were unable to cash in a 24-23 set-point, but finally won the set 27-25.
The fourth set was even at 9-9 before Moorpark scored five straight points to take control. A Lambert kill ended the streak, but the Pirates continued to fall, finding themselves on the short end of a 19-12 score. The Raiders and Pirates played even from that point with Moorpark taking the set 25-16, and the match three sets to one.
Veloz had 12 kills and 11 digs to lead VC and Shelby Stanger recorded 36 assists and 12 digs. Cassandra Lacanilao pushed up 18 digs while Hiott had eight kills and 10 digs.
The road remains difficult for Ventura as they next host No. 8 Santa Barbara on Friday Oct. 17 at the Athletic Event Center. The match is slated to begin at 7:00 pm.