Lady Corsairs Defeated by College of Canyons

Corsair Satff Writer The Sant a Monica College women's vol leybal l team was defeated by College of the Canyons in three competitive sets (14-25, 20-25, 20-25) Friday night.

The loss not only dropped SMC to a 6-13 for the season, but also snapped a three match winning streak that the program had put together against the likes of Bakersfield College, West Los Angeles College, and Citrus College over the course of the last two weeks.

Although they failed to walk away with a victory, the Lady Corsairs can be optimistic in the fact that they showed a lot of promise and improvement that they hope to use in building for the remainder of the season and beyond. While this was the same College of the Canyons squad that defeated SMC in three sets the last time they faced each other, each set was much more competitive this time around.

While SMC lost the first set by 11 points and the last two sets by five points each, the last time around saw a larger disparity in the total scored between the two teams (25-13, 25-20, 25-16).

The Lady Corsairs had opportunities to stretch the match to more sets and have a chance to win it as they led midway in each of the final two sets, but couldn't close them out.

Lady Corsairs Coach Nicole Ryan noticed the improvement in her team saying they were "getting better" and showing "shades of greatness" with their effort against College of the Canyons. Coach Ryan was glad to see the team start "heating up" and "closing the gap" against a very capable College of the Canyons program.

She also praised team captain Rebecca Chase, calling her performance "outstanding play." Along with Chase, Coach Ryan also acknowledged the play of Kashelle Wilkerson, who led the Lady Corsairs with nine kills, and was the main factor in the competitiveness of the final two sets of the evening.

As it stands, the Lady Corsairs are in a better position this season than they were the same time last year as they are currently in a battle for third place and still have a shot at achieving it in the competitive Southern division of the Western State Conference.

Although pushing for a third place finish in the standings, a goal of fourth place seems more realistic, but would still be a solid improvement.

By comparison, last season the Lady Corsairs finished sixth in the division, equivalent to second to last place. With nearly a month remaining in the season, the Lady Corsairs still have some time to improve their record and make a push in the standings.