On Friday, April 12, the Moorpark Raiders men’s volleyball team hosted Antelope Valley in their last game of the regular season. As part of their sophomore night, the Raiders honored their four sophomore teammates and closed out the season with a win.
Freshman Nick Sandria Hernandez noted that the energy of sophomore night helped them come together as a team and reach a win.
“Since it was our sophomore night, we just tried to have more fun,” Sandria Hernandez said. “Our last game we took a pretty hard loss, but with it being our sophomore night we just tried to put the loss behind us and have fun.”
The Friday night game ended with a Raiders win in all three sets. The team ended its season in third place in the Western State Conference North and is also seeded #7 in the California Community College Athletic Association playoffs.
The Raiders came into the game strong in all three sets, not letting their opponents get close and dominating the Antelope Valley Marauders with scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-10.
Sophomore setter Brandon Kaithatara commented on the team’s positive result.
“[In this game] I think it was just the motivation we had to close out the season as strong as possible and prepare for the playoffs next week.”
Friday night’s game was a complete turnaround from the team’s previous game against Santa Barbara, where the Raiders fell 0-3.
“I think it was more our energy [in the previous game] that affected us and the way we played,” Kaithatara spoke, “but coming back into tonight we had an agenda to push our energy and score as much as possible, like staying positive especially with individual players.”
The Raiders will travel to play their next opponent, Golden West, this coming Friday, April 19, in the quarter-finals of the CCCAA State playoffs.
The team faced Golden West in January at the beginning of their season. The teams played a very close match, stretching up to five sets. Golden West had a two-set lead before the Raiders took the third and fourth sets, tying at 2-2. The fifth set was still close, but the Raiders couldn’t finish it and lost the final set 15-9.
Orange Coast College will host the quarter-final game. The winner of the Friday night match will advance to the State semi-final, which will be played next Thursday, April 25, 2024.
For more information and updates on the Moorpark Raiders men’s volleyball team, including their upcoming playoff schedule, click here.
