After two tough losses, the Raiders came back with vengeance against the Corsairs in a Western State Conference game on Wednesday, March 23 winning three out of four sets, 25-22, 19-25, 26-24 and 27-25, improving to 4-9, 3-3.

After the first set, things got complicated for the Raiders as they came within one point of Santa Monica in the second set, but ended up losing.

After that something changed. Before the third set, the team huddled up along with Coach Aaron Hedland and had an important talk that led to them winning the next two sets.

When asked what they talked about in that important meeting, Myles Myers, freshman, would not reveal what they said.

“It’s a secret what we talked about,” said Meyers.

Myers was not feeling good after the last couple of games, but the win against Santa Monica lifted his spirits.

“I was feeling depressed, especially after the loss to Pierce, but now I’m feeling great,” Myers said.

Owen Yoshimoto, sophomore, was excited about the win commending the team’s performance against a highly ranked team.

“We all played pretty well,” said Yoshimoto. “It’s a big win because Santa Monica are second in our conference.”

Yoshimoto felt the talk before the third game was very important because it allowed them to take control and finish strong.

“We just knew we had to step up and take control as soon as possible,” said Yoshimoto. “We don’t do as well in five sets so we had to finish the game.”

Yoshimoto had 17 kills, eight digs, while Myers had 13 kills, three blocks. Drake Uthe had nine kills, 10 digs, and Jacob Sosa had nine kills.

Hedland was content with the teams performance, especially considering the team went through a lineup change.

“I am really proud of them, we tried a new lineup and they looked really good,” said Hedland. “The guys have a good attitude, and we looked better than ever.”

Attitude would come into play for the game, as Hedland said the talk before the third game was to get an attitude adjustment.

“It refocused us, we approached the second set negatively,” said Hedland. “So we had to stay true to the positivity and the plan for the rest of the game.”

Hedland was excited to win after losing the previous two games.

“It feels great, we are better than our record, and we have been losing a couple of close ones,” said Hedland. “It felt good to win a close one.”

Moorpark will play again this Friday at El Camino and return home March 30 against L.A. Trade Tech at 6 p.m.