After another disappointing loss to Moorpark last Friday, the Warriors are looking toward next season, hoping to build on this frustrating season.

The Warriors (5-11, 1-8) put up a good fight against the No. 2 team in California, but lost to the Raiders (14-2, 7-2) after a very competitive five games 30-22, 22-30, 27-30, 30-20 and 8-15.

“Both teams played really well,” freshman libero Stephen Bernabe said. “Moorpark was just able to capitalize on certain points that we messed up on.”

A libero is a player who specializes in defensive skills for a team and wears a jersey unlike the rest of the other players.

The loss was the Warriors’ eighth in a row, but the team’s performance was much better in this match than it had been in previous matches.

“I think that was one of our best matches. Moorpark is ranked very high in the state right now, so taking them to five games is a good match for us because we’ve been getting smoked a lot lately,” freshman setter/libero Nolan Imamora said.

Coach Dick Blount was also pleased with the Warriors performance, but was disappointed with the lack of energy in the fifth game.

“We showed a lot of heart to come back in game four,” Blount said. “But Moorpark had better execution in game five than we did and we were never really in that game.”

The Warriors looked like a different team in game five, especially sophomore outside hitter Corey Palmer.

Palmer, who was fighting through an illness, was effective in the first four games, leading the Warriors to a .303 hitting percentage.

In game five, Palmer had five hitting errors and like the rest of the Warriors, could not find his groove.

“(Moorpark) really buckled down (in game five) and kind of got tired and lost our confidence,” Imamora said.

The Warriors finished the season yesterday, honoring sophomores, Palmer, Sam Tejada and Daniel Rodrick, who played their final matches against Santa Monica College.

With those three not returning next year, the young Warrior team hopes to build off of this season.

“We’re a really young team and most of us are going to come back next year,” Bernabe said. “This was a tough season, but a good learning experience for most of us since it was a lot of people’s first year on the team.”

Scores for yesterday’s game against Santa Monica were not available at press time.

The Warriors will play host to the EC Alumni Friday at 6 p.m., which is the final match of the season.