Despite having a near-perfect season and a hard-fought playoffs bracket, El Camino College’s beach volleyball team will not bring home the 2022 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Team State Championship title.

The top five pairs took to the sand against Cabrillo College and Irvine Valley College on Thursday, May 12 at the Irvine Valley College sand courts but ended up falling flat against both teams snapping its nearly season-long win streak of 22 matches.

Ahead of Thursday’s matchup, the Warriors posted a staggering 22 wins in a row after losing its first three season opener matches, one of them being the only time the team had faced the Irvine Valley Lasers.

Coming in as the No. 3 seed, the Warriors faced No. 1 seed Cabrillo and No. 2 seed Irvine Valley in Pool B losing nearly every single set against its opponents coming out on top only once against Irvine Valley.

Starting the pool playoff against Cabrillo, the Warriors came out strong but were caught flat against the No. 1 seed and lost all five of its matches with a considerable margin.

Irvine Valley was slated next against the Warriors who had put up an intense fight but ceded the match to the Lasers with a 4-1 loss effectively ending their season run towards the title.

Coach LeValley Pattison told The Union that coming into the playoffs season with a young team consisting of players who have had little experience playing beach volleyball before is a challenge because every team is good at this level.

“We have a lot of very young, raw players,” coach Pattison said, “hopefully they learned a little bit about how to play consistently at a high level.”

Reflecting on the overall season, coach Pattison explained the troubles that the Warriors faced and eventually overcame, leading to a string of victories that gave them the opportunity to compete for the state championship title.

“If I would have thought at the beginning of the season when we were 0-3, that we would end up here I would have thought it to be incredibly optimistic, so I’m proud of us” coach Pattison said. “I think everybody put in a lot of time and effort and it showed.”

For the El Camino beach volleyball team, its season ends just short of the state championship title with an overall record of 22-5.

No. 1 pair Fayth Rascon and Lauren McCarthy continue to play as the No. 4 seed in the CCCAA Pairs State Championship on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 at Irvine Valley College for a chance at the state title.

“This was a good finish,” coach Pattison said. “I can’t complain, I’m proud of them all.”