Volleyball out to a slow start in conference play

Although the Golden West men's volleyball team is out to a slow start in conference play following a 3-1 loss to Grossmont College, Rustler's setter Connor Metcalfe still believes they have enough talent to win the state championship.

Just two days after giving Palomar College their first win of the season, the Rustlers lost to the Grossmont Griffins 25-23, 16-25, 15-25, 18-25 on Friday, March 4.

The loss puts Golden West's conference record at 0-2 and leaves them in a hole early in Pacific Coast Conference play.
Head coach Tim Johnson said after the defeat, "Well we're backing ourselves into a corner right now and if we don't start doing a little better, we can kiss playoffs goodbye."

The Rustlers still have plenty of time to bounce back from their early missteps with 10 more conference games remaining on the schedule.

"We've got all the talent in the world and we're not putting the bits and pieces together that we need to put together to start winning." Metcalfe said.

After winning the first game of the match 25-23, the Rustlers struggled to get any rhythm going. Johnson felt that his team's best rhythm came three games later in game four when the Rustlers stayed even with the Griffins all the way until 13-13.

When asked what changes he made to help establish a rhythm, Johnson said, "We switched our lineup a little bit and went to a one-setter system."

"I think as the season goes on we'll be going to that system a little bit," said Johnson. He cited his team's performance as well as injuries and personnel as the reasoning behind the change.

As has been a trend for the Rustlers this season, despite jumping out to an early lead by winning game one, they lost three consecutive games to lose 3-1. Metcalfe tried to rationalize the situation saying, "Our intensity drops a little bit."

In order to win enough matches to earn a spot in the playoffs, the Rustlers will need to shake off their current struggles and keep their intensity up.

Their next opportunities to do so will be 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 9 at Irvine Valley College and 6 p.m. Friday, March 11 against San Diego Mesa College at their home gym.