The men’s volleyball team needed a spark for the comeback.

An attack from sophomore middle blocker Peter Nordel hit the ground on Santa Monica’s (SMC) side, but it was called out of bounds.

In the very next play, the Warriors looked to Nordel to come back and make a play. But instead, SMC’s Daniel Vaziri put his hands up and stuffed Nordel’s attack.

The Warriors attempted to come back to no avail. The SMC Corsairs had all the momentum and finished the set 25-18 while the fans went wild.

Just like that, the Warriors ended up the runner-ups in the state championship match.

“Those two errors I had were big,” Nordel said. “I thought that my hit was in bound, but that’s something else.”

The No. 1 seeded Santa Monica College Corsairs were the home team, while the No. 2 seeded El Camino College Warriors played the visitor in the 2015 Men’s Volleyball State Championship on Saturday night.

SMC beat the Warriors, 3-2 and 3-0, in their regular-season conference matches and hoped to continue their dominance on the court.

The Corsairs did just that and took sets one (25-20), three (25-23), and four (25-18).

The Warriors took a close set two, 25-22, but the Corsairs were just more prepared and got more calls their way.

In the loss to SMC, coach Dick Blount said the Warriors were “exposed” to things that were not apparent earlier in the season.

“We need to spend more time on fundamental defense,” Blount said. “Our back row defense was not good, but we had a great run. We made great strides.”

EC ended the 2015 regular season 16-3 overall and 9-3 in conference play.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Warriors hosted the Irvine Valley College Lasers (IVC) beating them 3-0 in sets.

“We have a chance (at winning state),” sophomore outside hitter Casey Wood said after the IVC match.

In San Diego, the Warriors blew past a 2-1 deficit and came back to take down the Grossmont College Griffins in sets four and five to advance to the final.

EC fell at the hands of SMC and took home the honor of second place. Freshman outside hitter Cesar Medina and Nordel were named part of the 2015 All-Tournament first team along with SMC’s Vaziri and MVP Taylor Tattersall.

Heading into next season, the Warriors will lose several sophomores including Wood (outside hitter), setter Chris Griebenow, libero Allen Sarinana, and Nordel (middle blocker).

Wood felt “honored and proud of these guys” and said it was a “great season” for the team.

Nordel thought it was “great” to have come this far and said he really loves the team.

“I couldn’t ask for a better group than this,” Nordel said.