Men’s volleyball got off to a slow start Friday, leading to the Warriors (5-4) losing the match to the Los Angeles Pierce College Brahmas (8-1) 3-0.

The Warriors held a 29-27 lead in the first game before serving the ball out of bounds and allowing Los Angeles Pierce College to score four consecutive points, taking game one 31-29.

The Brahmas used that momentum to take the next two games, dropping the Warriors to 1-1 in league play.

“They were able to capitalize (on the errant serve) and springboard that game into the other two,” coach Dick Blount said.

Although they were beat it straight sets, the Warriors had chances to not only take the first game, but the third game as well, which ended 30-28 in the Brahmas’ favor.

“We’re playing at a very high level; we’re just not able to finish games. That is our problem right now,” Sam Tejada, the designated Libero said.

Friday’s match started very similar to last Wednesday’s match against Santa Barbara Community College, but had a very different outcome. Last Wednesday, the Warriors trailed Santa Barbara by two games early before waking up and taking the last three games and eventually winning the match.

Corey Palmer, outside hitter was instrumental in the comeback over Santa Barbara, often winning the Warriors points with kills.

“We were obviously better than that team, it just took us a little time to wake up,” Palmer said of last Wednesday’s slow start.

But as Friday’s loss displayed, the Warriors cannot afford to take any plays off. In two league matches, the Warriors are 0-4 in the first two games, which is very troubling to coach Blount.

“The other team comes out and hits the ground running and (we) say, ‘gee, maybe we should play harder now'” Blount said, “We’ve spent a lot of time talking about that and trying to correct that, so we’ll see if we’ve fixed it.”

It is imperative that the Warriors find a way to come out stronger if they want to keep pace in a very competitive conference. Their first test was Wednesday against Long Beach City College, which came into the match with a 2-0 record in league play.

“They’re very good,” Blount said of Long Beach, “Everyone in our conference is (good) so we’ve got to show up to play.”