The Comets continued to struggle in Bay Valley Conference play as they lost to the Mariners at the College of Marin (5-9 overall, 3-4 in the BVC) on Wednesday.

Contra Costa College (3-9 overall, 1-6 in the BVC) is now on a three-game losing streak after the Mariners beat them 3-1 by scores of 25-9, 25-11, 21-25 and 25-21.

The trend of slow starts continued as the Mariners took advantage of the sloppy play during the first two sets of the contest.

Marin abused the Comet defense and dominated them in the first set by winning 25-9.

The CCC attack was nonexistent during the first set, only scoring nine points.

“We were unfocused and carelessly not getting into our position on time,” Comet outside hitter Kailey Walker said.

Comet coach Zachary Shrieve said the team made too many mistakes that they were unable to correct.

COM played well and controlled the game in the early parts of the match. Mistakes have been a bad habit that CCC cannot shake off. Early mistakes forced the Comets to play from behind for most of the game.

COM kept CCC off balance the whole match. The Comets had 19 errors, compared to the Mariners’ 16. COM out scored the Comets by 17 points.

The sporadic and inconsistent play of the Comets allowed the Mariners to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

After the first two sets it was clear that mounting errors would block the Comets’ path to victory.

CCC lacked the energy it needed to be able to compete in the opening sets of the contest.

“We have to avoid slow starts and can’t making these minor mistakes,” Shrieve said.

The Comets began to play harder after falling behind 2-0 and played more competitively at the start of the third set.

They cut down the number of turnovers and played a much cleaner game that allowed the team to play with more continuity, offensively and defensively.

Shrieve said the squad started playing better as the game progressed. The Mariners’ defense momentarily could not find an answer for the offensive firepower of the Comets.

Comet setter Richelle Ledesma said, “Shrieve talks to us, and he reminds us that we were the underdogs. We were in the same situation last year, and came back and won it.”

Outside hitters Walker and Rachelle Cuevas led the team offensively in the game. Walker with 13 kills and Cuevas had 10 of her own as well.

Their late offensive surge could not overcome the attack of the Mariner offense on display throughout the entire game.

The Comets would go on to lose in an intense final set. COM’s defense seemed to be too much for the Comet offense to breakdown so late in the game.

The team could not find the gaps in the Mariners’ player positioning as they were digging out a lot of the CCC kill attempts.

The Comets next conference match will be at Yuba College in Marysville today at 6 p.m.