After a hard-fought five-game victory over Palomar in the opening round of the playoffs, the Warriors lost their second round match against 10-time defending state champion Golden West College.

Although the Warriors fell in the playoffs, the team captured its third straight conference title.

The Warriors traveled to Golden West, the perennial state champion.

The Warriors might have been a little awe-struck in the first game, which they lost (16-30).

In the second and third games, the Warriors were more competitive but just didn’t have enough firepower to overcome the Golden West Rustlers.

In the match against Palomar last Tuesday, the Warriors came out sluggish and quickly dropped two games (21-30, 19-30).

It looked like their season would soon be over after starting the third game trailing 9-2.

But after consecutive kills by Courtney Spainhour, who was recently named South Coast Conference MVP, the Warriors started to take control of the third game, winning 30-17.

The next two games started out close, but the Warriors managed to pull away by the end to defeat Palomar 30-21 and 30-25.

The Warriors were led by an inspirational efforts from Courtney and Brittany Spainhour and her sister Brittney who rallied their teammates in the crucial third game.

The Spainhours led the team in kills, digs and emotion as they helped the Warriors move on to the second round to play Golden West.

The Warriors have nothing to hang their heads about, as they overcame injuries and youthful inexperience to win their third straight conference title and only lost one match in conference all year.