Moorpark men’s volleyball finished off their last game of the season on the road against Santa Barbara on April 13.
The Raiders fought hard, winning the first game 29-27 after two straight kills by Bradley Freyder. The Vaqueros fought back in the following three games though, winning the match 3-1. This loss brought the Raiders’ final conference record to 2-4 and an overall record of 8-9. They finished in third place out of four teams in the Western State-Northern division behind Pierce College (6-0) and Santa Barbara City College (4-2) and ahead of fourth place Antelope Valley College (0-6). Unfortunately though, the Raiders did not make it to the playoffs this year.
Although they did not make the playoffs, the team had a very alternating season. They started out their first two matches with 3-0 shutout losses against Orange 340Coast College and El Camino College. The following weekend on Feb. 9th, the Raiders came back to their third match of the season ready to put up a fight. They shut out Grossmont College 3-0, bringing them their first win of the season. After losing a game that same day to Fullerton College, the Raiders hosted their first match at home against Santiago Canyon College on Feb. 14th. The Raiders beat the Hawks 3-0, then continued onto a two game winning streak when they beat Santa Monica City College 3-2.
Although the Raiders did not have an ideal end to their season, they did have a very eventful last few games. After being shut out by L.A. Pierce College earlier in their season, the team played a rematch game at home on April 6th. The match went into a fifth game tiebreaker after Moorpark fought back to win the third and fourth game. Ultimately, the Brahmas went on to win the fifth game to defeat the Raiders 3-2.
The final home game was on April 11th against Antelope Valley College. In another close and exciting game, the Raiders beat the Marauders 3-2. This was the team’s final game before they went on the road to play their final match of the season against Santa Barbara City College.
The Raiders had several star players on their team this season that led the state in position stats. Sophomore outside hitter Bradley Freyder dominated his position with a total of 251 kills and 4.11 kills per set and sophomore Libero Jose Zinkewich led California in digs with a total of 238 and 3.84 digs per set.
