The Diablo Valley Vikings volleyball team lost their last home game against the Cosumnes River Hawks in three sets 25-19, 25-23, 25-12 on Weds. Nov. 7, putting their record at 1-13.

This is the Vikings ninth consecutive loss in the Big 8 Conference and last home game of the season.

The first set began with the Hawks taking the lead with a five point run forcing the Vikings to use their first timeout early in the set with the score at 1-6.  The Vikings came out of the timeout strong getting a kill from pin hitter, Gabby Chase. DVC came within three points by getting an ace from middle hitter Raeshawn Rogers and three consecutive offensive errors from Cosumnes to make the score 12-15. The Hawks then went on a six point serving run, ending the set at 19-25.

“In the first set our energy was definitely there in the beginning and it was just minor mistakes that lead us to lose,” said middle hitter Jontara West. “But I thought we did pretty well and it was definitely better than how our past first sets have been which really shows the improvement in our play which is great to see.”

The Vikings started the second set slow with the Hawks gaining the lead from the beginning of the set at 5-11. Chase reduced the gap with a kill and an ace which was followed by another kill from her fellow teammate West making it 15-18. DVC and Cosumnes were back and forth but the Hawks maintained their lead of two points for the rest of the set ending at 23-25.

“I think that we played really well, we had a lot of good energy but I felt like we could have done better by having more energy,” said Chase. “We just have too many breaks and need to learn to push through the times we are down. Though we lost, this is definitely one of the better games we’ve played this season.”

In the last set of the game, the Hawks established a huge lead from the start making the Vikings call a timeout after falling behind at 4-10. DVC slowly decreased the gap but Cosumnes kept their lead. Cosumnes then went on a nine point serving run, creating a huge lead that the Vikings couldn’t recover from, ending the last set at 12-25.

Ponciano said, “Our biggest success tonight was adjusting to the others team setter who got a lot of kills on us last time we played them. Our momentum and energy definitely kept us in a game and it was great the first two and a half sets.”

Before the game, the team commemorated lone sophomore Tida Twitchen. She was given a gift basket, balloons and flowers to celebrate the hard work she has put towards the team in her last two years playing at DVC.

“Tonight playing my last home game is bittersweet,” said Co-captain Twitchen. “I’m sad that I won’t be able to play at DVC anymore but I think tonight’s game was a great ending to our team showing how we are connected and making it present that we are ending this season as a family”

The team agreed that Twitchen brought great positivity, was a great leader and was a role model towards the team. They will all miss having her on the team next season.

“It always hard losing sophomores because they’ve been with us for two years and knowing their skill set needs to be replaced it’s very hard to recover especially when its a player like Tida who is a key to our game.” said head coach Jackie Ponciano Babb. “She really stepped into a hard position that she wasn’t used to, we really appreciate it and are thankful for her hard work.”

DVC’s next game will be away on Friday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. against San Joaquin Delta.