The Moorpark College Raiders’ women’s volleyball team played against the MiraCosta College Spartans on Oct. 8. The Raiders won in their fifth home game of the season with a score of 3-1, improving their undefeated home record to 5-0.

The Raiders’ sophomore setter Brooke Bunker played for the entire game and spoke about how playing at home is a motivator for her and the team.

“Playing on our home court is always so fun since I’m playing with my best friends, my family gets to watch, and our men’s team is always there to root us on.”

The matchup did not begin as the Raiders had hoped, as they lost a close first set against the Spartans 27-25. The first set score continued to go back and forth between teams as both schools looked to put up an aggressive front in the first set. Ultimately, MiraCosta College came out on top in a high-energy first set.

The Raiders bounced back in the second set as they capitalized on mistakes from the MiraCosta team. These errors allowed them to pull ahead and win the second set 25-20.

The Moorpark Raiders continued this energy into the third set as they looked to pull ahead of the MiraCosta Spartans. The Raiders outscored the Spartans 25-11 and kept the energy of the game up, despite being so far ahead already.

Moorpark Women’s Volleyball Head Coach Adam Black spoke about how his team continues the momentum regardless of whether they win or lose a set.

“Regardless of the score, whether we’re down or up by points, we want our players to be present in the next play so we can get a win in that particular play,” Black said.

The Raiders’ maintained their energetic performance into the fourth set of the game, which had the potential to be the final set for the Raiders even as MiraCosta looked to keep the game going. However, the Raiders refused to let up their lead and made a final, aggressive push to take the fourth set 25-19.

With Moorpark taking the final three sets out of the four, the Raiders improved their record to 9-3 as they entered the final stretch of the 2022 season. The Raiders now have a winning streak of three.

The Raiders’ sophomore libero Skyler Costa spoke about how these records can impact the team and how much attention the Raiders actually pay to these numbers.

“While the records are important in the big picture, at the end of the day, knowing we played our game as a strong team with good relationships is all that matters,” Costa said.

Moorpark’s women’s volleyball team played against Santa Barbara City College on Oct. 12 and won that match in 4 sets, 3-1. The Raiders will face Los Angeles Mission College next on Friday, Oct. 14. The match will take place at Los Angeles Mission College. For the complete Raiders’ women’s volleyball schedule, click here.