The Raiders men’s volleyball team lost two matches this past week to L.A. Pierce College and El Camino College.

On Wednesday, the Raiders hosted Pierce at Raider Pavilion and things did not start well for Head Coach Steve Burkhart’s team. Pierce took the first two games of the match by scores of 25-23 and 25-20. It was a steep hill to climb, but the Raiders fought back to tie the match 2-2, winning the next two sets, 25-21 and 25-17.

The Raider comeback was a perfect set up for a fifth and final game, which was won in dramatic fashion by Pierce, 15-12.

Tyler Peterson led the Raiders in the match with 18 kills, while Tyson Maddox and Trevor Lanzarotta each had 11 kills of their own. The most impressive stat for Moorpark that evening was the 43 assists and 14 digs Evan Litchfield had in the losing effort.

After an emotional game against Pierce, the Raiders were challenged to shake it off and travel to El Camino on Friday.

El Camino swept Moorpark in three straight sets by scores of 25-22, 25-22, and 25-20.

Maddox had 14 kills in the match, along with Peterson’s 11 kills. Litchfield added 30 assists to the offensive stat line, but the effort wasn’t good enough to beat El Camino who moved to (9-3) on the year with their win over Moorpark.

The Moorpark Raiders move to (8-5) with this past week’s losses. They will travel to Santa Barbara City College on Wednesday for another Western State Conference battle, the game will start at 6pm.