The Moorpark Raiders were unable to advance to the State Championships, falling to the Orange Coast College Pirates in five sets (22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 8-15) at Raider Pavilion Saturday night.

The match had the makings of a dogfight from the very beginning, featuring the Western State Conference champs against the winners of the Orange Empire Conference.

Both the Raiders and Pirates would be neck and neck for much of the early going. Each team was within two points of the other for most of the set.

However, Moorpark was unable to win the close battle, falling behind 23-20, before eventually dropping the first set 22-25.

In the second set, the Raiders came out strong as they attempted to pound their way into some separation on the scoreboard. The Raiders succeeded, taking a 15-9 lead, and never let the Pirates come back, clawing their way to a 25-19 victory in the second set behind accurate hitting by the frontline and with a much bigger sense of urgency defensively.

The third set would eerily mirror the first set as the Raiders and Pirates would be knotted up or within three points for much of the set.

The Raiders’ powerful hits on the frontline did not help generate points offensively, and the Raiders trailed the match 2-1 after losing the second set 25-21.

Standing in unfamiliar territory, the Raiders had to play from behind, with their backs completely against the wall, but stepped up to the challenge by dominating the fourth set.

Sophomore outside hitter Una Siljegovic and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Olinyk would be unstoppable forces on the Raider frontline, helping the Raiders take a commanding 21-9 lead.

They would struggle a bit to close out the match, allowing the Pirates to get within nine, but the Raiders took the set 25-16 to force a fifth set.

The Raiders proved that playing from behind was exhausting, and in the decisive set, the Raiders found themselves down 5-2 early, failing to show the same intensity they had in the fourth set. Their season came to an end when the Pirates had the Raiders walk the plank, stealing the fifth and final set 15-9.

Although the Raiders failed to advance to the State Championships, Raiders head coach Steve Burkhart was proud of the way his team played.

“I thought we played great,” coach Steve Burkhart said, “They (Raiders) really represented themselves well.”