The Diablo Valley College volleyball team got swept against Delta in three sets 17-25, 17-25, 21-25 on Weds. Oct 10, putting their record at 1-6. The loss was the Vikings’ third consecutive in the Big 8 Conference.

“Though we lost tonight I like that we all showed up to play against the number two team in the state,” said head volleyball coach Jackie Ponciano Babb. “We all wanted to win and our passing game was on point.”

In the first set, Delta started to pull away with a five point serving run that the Vikings couldn’t recover from, ending the set 17-25.

Starting the second set Delta missed their first serve but they quickly recovered and pulled away fast with a six point serving run 1-6. The Vikings got three consecutive kills from pin hitter Gabby Chase, and a block from middle hitter Raeshawn Rogers 12-15. The Vikings minimized the gap, however, they still couldn’t catch up to Delta, leaving the score at 17-25.

Co-captain and starting middle, Jontara West, had a back injury in the third set, taking her out for the rest of the set. Ponciano had to change the lineup in order to recover from the injury. The Vikings starting outside hitter, Mania Korzeniecka, was changed to middle hitter and Mimi Reyer went to outside hitter. They were down the whole set but still stayed in the game. They lost the third set by four points, ending the game 21-25.

“Considering that we only have ten players and people are playing out of position a lot we are playing pretty well and are coming together nicely,” Ponciano said.

“I think those were the best three sets we’ve played this season so far,” said co-captain Tida Twitchen.

Co-captain West agreed with her fellow captain, saying, “even though we didn’t come out with a win we talked way more and our passing was better than ever,” said West. “Everyone was more together this game. It was great.”

Ponciano said,  “Our game plan moving forward is to continue challenging the girls in practice so they’re ready for the challenge in their games. We want to win more games in the second round of conference, especially against some of the close loses.”

With the loss against San Joaquin Delta on Wednesday night the Vikings came into the Friday Oct. 12 game against the Modesto Pirates. However, the Vikings lost to the Pirates in four sets losing 25-22, 15-25, 16-25, 18-25.

Freshman pin hitter Gabby Chase led the team with 12 kills in this match while West had two blocks to add on.

Defensively freshman outside hitter Olivia Hansel led the Vikings with 14 digs in the match.

The Vikings are currently 1-7 and will host Sierra College on Weds. Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m.