In a battle of California State University schools, the Sacramento State men’s club volleyball (0-5, 0-5 in conference) team fell to the undefeated Sonoma State men’s team (5-0, 4-0 in conference) on tonight at the Hornets Nest, 3-2.

“We got a lot of young guys (and) when things are going good, we play really well,” said head coach Sukhjit Dhillon. “It’s just going to come down to getting more reps.”

In the first game, the Hornets came out a little slow, quickly putting themselves in a 2-0 hole. Throw in a substitution confusion and Sac State was also down a sub.

But the Hornets quickly battled back and were able to hang tough for much of the first game. A game that saw the score tied 9 times. However Sonoma was able to hold a four point advantage a number of times. For the visiting Seawolves, Wes Ernst gave the Hornets fits on both the offensive and defensive ends. Ultimately he was the difference in a close game that was won by Sonoma 25-22.

In game two, the Hornets came out looking much stronger behind an emphatic kill by Mike Williams. After leading by as many as four points, Sonoma made a run to cut the Hornet lead to one, 12-11. The Hornets made a strong run of their own to put game two away to tie the match at one game apiece.

Game three took on a seesaw battle early on, with neither team being able to take more than a one-point lead. After leading 7-5, the Seawolves quickly pushed their lead to five and didn’t look back, finishing off the Hornets and taking a 2-1 game lead.

In game four, the Hornets showed some resilience, fighting out of an early 4-2 hole and tying the score at four. From there, the Hornets and the Seawolves got back on the seesaw. Each team struggled to get the upper hand in the match. The turning point was when the Hornets took a run and turned a four-point Sonoma lead into a one point lead, 23-22. The Hornets then sent the match into a deciding game five with a game four victory.

The final game started like the others, with neither team able to gain much ground. The Hornets, however, found early fortune after a few unforced errors by the Seawolves.

Any run by Sonoma was quickly thwarted by the Hornets, which maintained a small lead for the first half. That was until Ernst shook off his three-game disappearing act and made back-to-back blocks to put Sonoma ahead 12-10. In the end, Sonoma was able to put away game five by a final score 15-12.

“At this point, I am forgetting about moral victories,” Dhillon said. “I felt we played well, and we should have.

“At 0-5 I have to stop looking for moral victories and start getting some W’s.”

Ross Coleman can be reached at [email protected]