Moorpark College men’s volleyball team raids Warriors’ home in sweeping fashion

Minutes after visitors Moorpark College men’s volleyball team swept El Camino College 3-0 in its own backyard, Warrior Edan Musick went up to his coach, Casey Wood.

In a repeat of their March 6 encounter at Moorpark, the Raiders routed the Warriors 25-20, 25-17 and 25-15 again in three sets.

The El Camino setter, who contributed nine assists during the match, wanted to let his coach know his thoughts and opinions on the game. “I was just talking about how we played today and how I didn’t see that as our best game and what we did before, it just affected how we played today,” Musick said.

The Warriors started strong, earning the first two points of the game from serves by Garrett Gronbach. But Wood was the first to call out a timeout down 8-4, when the Raiders were starting to break away.

The Warriors did not recover and trailed the visitors throughout the first set, down as much as seven points.

Despite a couple of good plays from setter Jacob Flanagan and outside hitter Gronbach, and a late rally from the home team, the Raiders won the first set, 25-20.

Jacob Knudsen, Fernando Acero and Taylor Phipps jump to block a Warriors' attack during the men’s volleyball game at the ECC Gym Complex on Wednesday, April 4. The Moorpark Raiders won 3-0. Phipps was the game leader with 11 kills and four blocks. (Ma. Gisela Ordenes | The Union) — Jacob Knudsen, Fernando Acero and Taylor Phipps jump to block a Warriors’ attack during the men’s volleyball game at the ECC Gym Complex on Wednesday, April 4. The Moorpark Raiders won 3-0. Phipps was the game leader with 11 kills and four blocks. (Ma. Gisela Ordenes | The Union)

The second set was more of the same, with the Raiders making mincemeat of the Warriors’ defense and racking a commanding 10-point lead at 7-17.

A well-executed kill by Flanagan right after an El Camino timeout gave the home team a boost but it was answered almost immediately by an exquisitely placed ball near the net by the Raiders’ Brandon Baez.

The Warriors fought harder and looked to come back from an 11-point deficit at 21-10. Flashes of individual brilliance from each team’s No. 18–Warriors’ Gronbach and Raiders’ Tyler Linville– were on display during the set.

But the Raiders were too strong and quashed the opponents, 25-17 in the second set.

The Raiders celebrated early in the third set when it looked like the Warriors had lost hope at 20-10. Moorpark coach Aaron Hedland rotated his players to get a taste of the undeniable victory in the last few minutes of the game.

The third set ended with a decisive 25-15 for the visitors, leaving no doubt as to who held the key to the game.

“We just didn’t show up today,” Musick said, “like we weren’t there mentally, we weren’t there physically and that’s how we show the game.”

Musick said he doesn’t usually talk to the coach one-on-one after the game. “Today I felt that I needed to because no one else [from the team] is speaking,” he said.

Wood said his team made an effort during the game. “Our guys should fight and that’s something we talked about tonight. It’s like we did give great effort. We just did not do our jobs very well. And we need both of those things to happen at the same time to win…matches.”

The Raiders is a good serving team and his coaching staff emphasized to the players to take care of the first contact, Wood said. “We needed to be able to give ourselves an opportunity to score and that was unfortunately something we struggled with tonight, but like I said, they served very well so it wasn’t even,” Wood said.

Moorpark College middle blocker John Singh looks at the ball and attempts a block from El Camino College setter Jacob Flanagan’s strike during the men’s volleyball game at the ECC Gym Complex on Wednesday, April 4. The Moorpark Raiders won 3-0. (Ma. Gisela Ordenes | The Union)

Hedland said the key to his team’s win was its consistency. “I thought we did a really good job of service pressure and then passing and defending their service pressure. So I liked our first contact a lot.”

He said it’s good to have their outside hitter Taylor Phipps healthy again. “Obviously, [he had] a good match coming back,” Hedland said. Phipps was the game leader with 11 kills and four blocks.

The Warriors will meet the top two teams in the conference for their next matches: Long Beach City College and Santa Monica College.

Despite the loss to third-place Moorpark, Wood is looking forward to the next two matches.

“Coming off last week, we played great up at Santa Barbara, and we played great on the road against [L.A.] Pierce. So you know, we’re not in a place where we’re super worried about our level of play right now.”

He said it’s exciting to host both teams at home for their next matches. “It’s just can we bounce back from tonight? Come in on Friday against Long Beach and play? Well, you know, we played great against them a few weeks ago down at their house. So you know, I’m hoping we can do the same and give them a battle,” Wood said.