by Eric B. Bishop
Sports Editor
Falling to Santa Barbara City College Wednesday night in three games, 15-8, 15-5, 15-6, the University of La Verne men’s volleyball team dropped its record to 4-10 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Going into the match, Santa Barbara was one of the schools the Leos thought it should defeat. “They’re one of the teams we have the opportunity to play and perhaps beat,” said Head Coach Jim Paschal.
The Leo spikers played well in the first game, tying Santa Barbara at 6-6 and 8-8, before allowing the Vaqueros to take over and drop them, 15-8.
“We passed poorly,” said Pascal. “We didn’t have any intensity at all.”
The second game was all Santa Barbara. The Vaqueros didn’t allow the Leos to capitalize and the spikers were only able to score five points in the game.
ULV came out and started to take control in the third game, taking a 3-0 lead, but things quickly went sour with Santa Barbara coming back to tie the game and move ahead, 6-3. La Verne made one last attempt and tied the game at 6-6, but was then done for the night, losing 15-6.
“We need to improve our defense and we need to improve our passing,” said Paschal. “We are making some changes, we’re at the experimenting stage.”
Part of the changes Paschal is planning is playing Michael Self and Pat Paschal on the· left side of the defense. They will no longer be setting, but will become hitters.
Paschal plans to implement some of his changes tonight when the Leos host Golden West College at 7 p.m.
Donnie Flora led the spikers with five kills, while Self, Pat Paschal and Joe Hurst each had four.
Last Friday against Pierce College, the Leo spikers had another bad outing, falling to Pierce, 15-3, 15-1, 15-7. In that game, Self had the Leo high with 10 kills while Paschal had six.
