Women’s Volleyball falls to Cuesta to go 0-9

SMC’s Women’s Volleyball team standing for national anthem before their game against Cuesta September 18, 2019. (Photo By Kevin Tidmore/The Corsair)

Camila Wilson #15 goes for a kill to help the Corsair's score. (Photo by Kevin Tidmore/The Corsair)

The Corsairs assistant coach taking a moment to talk to the team during a time out. (Photo by Kevin Tidmore/The Corsair)

Natalie Crockenberg #12 goes for a kill as two Cuesta players try to block the point. (Kevin Tidmore/The Corsair)

#19 Madison Reiner scores a powerful kill for the Corsair's. (Photo by Kevin Tidmore/The Corsair)

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Women's volleyball team is off to a rocky start after failing to win a game this season. Coming off a sweep to the hands of Fullerton College - in which they failed to score double-digit points - SMC fell again, this time to Cuesta College.

The Corsairs let the first set get away from them with Cuesta winning 25-10. In the second set, Cuesta got off to a strong start with a 9-6 lead and never looked back.

SMC's mistakes led to Cuesta eventually gaining a 16-6 lead. Cuesta looked stronger than the Corsairs all-around, whether it was kills, aces, or blocking attacks.

Throughout the second set, SMC struggled to keep Cuesta off the scoreboard from kill plays. At one point, the Cougars went on a 9-score run to put themselves up 19-6. The Corsairs were battling through bad defensive lapses, and part of that was the inability to block Cuesta’s kills. Towards the end of the set, the Corsairs showed some fight, highlighted by an incredible dig by No. 14 Natalie Crockenberg. But, SMC still wound up losing that set 25-13.

To start the third set, the Cougars picked up right where they left off, continuing their offensive dominance with a 6-2 lead. The Corsairs came out as if they were still devastated by the second set that they let slip away.

Down 13-6, the Corsairs hung around. No. 19 Madison Reiner earned some clutch kills at a point where it seemed SMC couldn’t score against Cuesta, cutting the Corsairs' deficit to 14-8.

After making SMC's run to a halt at 15-10, Cuesta showed that they were the better team. Aces and kills seemed to come more at ease for the Cougars, and it proved to be too much for the Corsairs down the stretch.

Cuesta was the more dominant team. They were better coached and better prepared for whatever SMC coaches had planned. Ending the game with a score of 25-17, the Corsairs showed there is still a lot of room to improve. 

This 0-9 start only tells part of the story for a season that spans 22 games long. There is a lot of time for this team to improve, and with solid players like Reiner, Crockenberg, and Camila Wilson, there is still time to build and get better each game.

The Corsairs will go on the road to Santa Barbara College on Sept. 20 as they continue the quest to earn their first win of the season.