Contra Costa College’s women’s volleyball team proved to be no match against Solano Community College’s (9-1 overall and 7-0 in the Bay Valley Conference) fastpaced style of play, which resulted in the Comets losing in three straight sets Friday night in the Gymnasium.

“We needed to stop overthinking and play our game,” Comet coach Christy Tianero said.

CCC (2-8 overall, 1-5 in the BVC) struggled early on to get its offense going because they let a strong Solano team affect them mentally, which resulted in a slow start. The Comets get another shot at victory when they face Los Medanos College tonight  in Pittsburg.

“It looked like they (Solano) were in their (the Comets) heads,” Tianero said.

In the first set, Solano went on a commanding 16-8 run against the Comets who had no answer to slowing down the Falcon offense “We knew they were good. We need to work on moving faster when they hit and where they hit the ball,” Comet outside hitter Victoria Matue said.

In terms of scoring, the first set was the closest that CCC came to matching up against Solano’s offensive onslaught out of all three sets.

Comet assistant coach Todd Sootharak told the team to “be open, be adaptable, keep an open mindset and adapt well to how your  opponents play.”

Solano ended the first set with an 8-7 point scoring run leading to a 25-14 first set victory.

“Volleyball is a mental thing and we wanted to keep our energy no matter what the score was,” Comet sophomore outside hitter Jacqueline Tianero said.

In the second set Solano displayed its dominance against CCC by establishing a commanding 15-1 lead that left CCC scrambling for answers. In the second set the team lost its will to fight and each player’s body language made it seem like they weren’t having fun playing the game.

“We snatched balls, practiced, ran a fast pace offense and played our style of volleyball,” Falcon outside hitter Makayla Johnson said.

Even after the game, some of the Comets could not get the sour taste of the second set out of their mouths.

“The second set was our worst set against Solano. The team needed to stop looking at the score and play the game,” Tianero said.

Solano kept attacking the Comets, after every pass, their kills were hit with such precision and power that the Comets couldn’t respond.

Falcon setter Mia Pimentel set up their middle hitter Alana Sibblies who capitalized and scored the kill to give Solano a 9-4 advantage..

“In the third set, we wanted to remind the girls why they play volleyball — to figure it out as a team and to learn how to communicate among themselves,” Sootharack said.

Comet players Makaya Thomas and Justine Ayson showed some of their fire by blocking and stopping Solano player Destiny Greenwood’s kill attempts.

The Comets’ took advantage of Solano’s turnovers and showed some competitiveness by fighting to try to get back into the game. However, the Falcons overwhelmed CCC in the third set and ended with a 25-4 victory.

“Even though we are a small team, the fight in us is going to make us better,” Comet middle blocker Justine Ayson said.