The Raiders Men’s Volleyball team went out Friday night ready to compete, and through hard play and tenacious defense, they beat Irvine College.

Irvine college had the height advantage over the smaller Moorpark team, with Moorpark’s tallest player being 6’4 and Irvine having seven players between 6’4 and 6’7. What Moorpark lacked in height they made up in effort, and leading the team is co-captain Jose Rojas.

The sophomore defensive specialist never let a ball hit the floor. Rojas never let up until the end, and his effort rubbed off on his teammates.

“It was a team effort,” said Rojas.

The Raiders showed a ceaseless effort to keep the ball in play, and a ball never hit the ground without at least one Raider diving for it.Time and time again, Irvine College thought they put the ball away, but the Raiders chased every ball no matter where it led them; into the stands, into the player’s chairs, or even onto the other side of the net.

“That’s our thing, we [got to] dig balls,” said middle blocker and co-captain Brandon Kohler.

Kohler seems to be on the same page with his coach Steve Burkhart, who after the game said “We’re a team that needs to play D”.

Even with the scrappy play from Moorpark, the first game was neck and neck to the finish. Irvine had a 23-18 lead and looked to win the first game, but the Raiders stepped up and tied it 25-25. Kohler then finished off the game with back-to-back blocks leading to a 27-25 win for Moorpark.

Moorpark continued on to win the next game 25-20, putting the Irvine team on the ropes. Feeling the pressure, Irvine came out strong and won a closely contested third game by a score of 25-23. Moorpark quickly brushed off the loss and finished the match with a 25-10 win in the fourth game.

Next, Moorpark will host San Diego City College on February 2nd at 6 p.m.

No statistics were available at the time of publishing.