The Warriors got a point to tie set three at 16-16. When freshman outside hitter, Cesar Medina, came up to serve and aced San Diego Miramar to go up 17-16. With momentum shifting, he threw the ball up and served another. And like the first serve it slammed into the floor, but this time, in between two defenders to go up 18-16.

The visitors never gained control back and ultimately lost set three 21-25. Which led to them losing the match itself, 3-0 in sets.

The Warriors are now 4-0, on the season against non-conference teams.

There were many rotations and line-up changes throughout the match, as if coach Richard Blount was trying to test the waters and figure out how deep his bench goes. “We got sloppy, but we’re deep.”

Sophomore outside hitter, Casey Wood, was out with an injury and did not play at Golden West, or tonight.

Wood, who usually starts, was injured in the last set against Irvine Valley College and Blount said he’ll be out another week or two. But “he was warming up today and that’s good for us.”

Both setters, sophomore Chris Griebenow and freshman Michael Otazu, were active today, as the setting came from the back row the entire match.

Sophomore middle blocker Peter Nordel said, “Michael set really well off the bench. We had other guys come on after we starting getting a lot more points than them.”

One of the key factors was that the Warriors were not messy, disregarding some blocking errors in the first set. EC’s blocking was fast and strong in the second set, since they recorded seven blocks in that set alone.

Griebenow said, “Our blocking was phenomenal.” There were less error-riddled plays from the Warriors defense, although there were a lot of sloppy plays. He added, “our serve-receive was much better. It’s good to know the guys can step up.”

Freshman middle blocker Peter Sarmiento, had a great first and second set, before all the rotations and changes left him out for rest of the match. He was not bothered by the fact he didn’t finish the game.

When asked about the 4-0 record, Sarmiento said, “It feels good. But these are non-conference opponents.”

Griebenow said, “This is pre-season, so it doesn’t count.” When asked about what he liked about today’s match (for the Warriors) he added, “We kept the ball in play. I want us to continue that into the regular season.”

“Conference is where it matters,” Sarmiento said. “Hopefully we can do it there, go far and win a state championship.”