Spartans Come Up Short In First Conference Match

Ciera Kelly Hits Against Rio Hondo

In their first conference match of the year the MiraCosta women's beach volleyball team took on the top ranked Grossmont College Griffins. The highly anticipated match featured not only the top ranked team in the state but also the #6 Spartans. The young MiraCosta team started the season with an 8-2 record but entered the day having recently lost their last two matches.

After losing in the 5's position MiraCosta evened the overall score 1-1 with a sound win by the Spartan 4's team, Kacy Hele and Hayley Ciera Kelly. Hele and Kelly won in two games, 21-16, 21-14. The MiraCosta 1's team, Halie Hess and Kayla Boatright, lost their first game but evened the score with a 21-18 second game. In the third and deciding game the Spartans lost 15-17.  With the loss in the 1's position Grossmont took a 2-1 lead and needed only one more win to take the match. 

The 2's and 3's flights were the last two games to get started. MiraCosta's 2's, Shannon Evans and Hanley Lomax, earned an impressive win in the third game. Final scores from the 2's position were 19-21, 26-24, 15-11.  With a 2-2 overall score the 3's position would decide which college would start 1-0 in conference. Despite a competitive 21-23, 17-21 final score, the Spartans dropped the 3's and lost the match 2-3.

MiraCosta will next be in action on Friday March 22 at Grossmont College starting at 9AM.