The volleyball team put up a fight throughout its Friday match but faltered near the end of each set to eventually lose in straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-19) to the College of Alameda (3-8 overall, 2-2 in the Bay Valley Conference) in the Gymnasium.

Contra Costa College (1-10 overall, 1-4 in the BVC) was in contention in every set, even leading over halfway through each one, but just couldn’t maintain momentum to close out any of the three sets.

The Comets came out firing in the first set, going on a 7-0 run and earning a 22-15 lead late before familiar problems arose.

The run would be the last time CCC would score as the Cougars roared back with a 10-0 run of their own to steal the set.

Acting coach Veronica Ceja (coach Christy Tianero was out of town) attributed part of the first-set loss to Alameda’s libero Deysi Arechiga’s effective floater serve.

Ceja said the team was unable to adapt to her shots in time to mount an effective defense.

The Comets will have two chances this week to curb their current losing stretch. Both 6 p.m. games will be on the road as they play at Solano Community College in Fairfield tonight and at Yuba College in Marysville on Friday.

Against Alameda the second set saw the Comets up late once again 21-18, but the team floundered at 21 points and was unable to score another point in the set. After giving up another late run, CCC lost the second set 25-21.

Set three played out in the same pattern as the first two with the Comets playing steady, consistent ball in the early stages of the set, then failing to finish strong. Throughout the set, both teams battled back and forth with neither finding the space to pull away. The pattern held until the end when a late-set Cougar offensive flurry led to an eventual 25-19 set score.

“I think we put up a good fight,” Comet sophomore libero Delanie Baca said. The libero, as well as her Comet teammates, believed they could have won this game as she said “both teams were pretty equal in skill.”

Freshman outside hitter Malleah Maddox said, “Alameda was just a bit more solid and that’s why they pulled away with the win.”

A silver lining to take away from the loss to Alameda is CCC’s continuing improvement toward minimizing self-inflicted errors.

Baca said, “During this game we definitely cleaned up our errors. I’d like to believe, there were a couple receiving and a couple hitting errors, but nothing to fret over.”

Ceja also said the team had a decent showing when it came to errors.

The Comets have now lost seven matches in a row and still sit in seventh place in the BVC.

The team’s only conference win came against last place Napa Valley College on Sept. 12.