During the entire season, the women’s volleyball coaching staff has been preaching to its team that there are three parts to the season.

The preseason, conference play, and the postseason.

After sweeping through the competion with ease, the women ran into a building block getting an early exit in the first round.

“We tried to drive home the point that the playoffs are another season, everyone’s 0-0,” assistant coach Richard Blount said.

With the No. 1 seed, the women looked primed and ready for a run at the state championship.

Their first hurdle was the sixteenth ranked Cypress College on Nov. 23.

The two teams met for the third time this year with the Warriors coming out on top the first two times.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times in one year,” Blount said.

The Chargers won by scores of 30-26, 31-29, 22-30, 27-30, 15-12.

Tordra Sessions had 27 kills and Breezie James added 24 to lead the Chargers to an impressive win and avenge those earlier losses.

“Cypress came out and played great. They got a lot of breaks and made some of their own,” coach Le Valley Pattison said. “I think we came out a little flat, got pressed and just didn’t take over the match.

“Once it got to the fifth game ,it was anybody’s to win or lose,” he said.

Cypress was able to take away EC’s strength.

“They took out our middles, which had been our strength all season,” Pattison said.

“They out dug us and they virtually touched every ball we hit,” Blount said.

Despite the Chargers defense, Timary More had 21 kills and four blocks. Andrea Hernandez stepped up to the challenge adding 17 kills and 27 digs.

“Timary and Andrea played amazing; it’s just unfortunate some others didn’t,” Pattison said.

Even though the team went undefeated, the coaches believe like the No. 1 seed was undeserved.

“We didn’t beat a single team in the top twelve all year,” Blount said. “The women learned a hard lesson.”

“I think being seeded number one didn’t help us because the other team plays like it has nothing to lose,” Pattison said. “Cypress played that way.”

With a core group of freshman this year, Pattison and Blount expect another stellar season next year.

“These freshmen need to learn to train in the off-season,” Blount said. “They need to put in the time to win.”

“If these sophomores taught the freshman about committing to a solid off-season, we should be hard to beat,” he said.