The Hornets Beach Volleyball team hosted the Lasers and the Tigers at the Huntington Beach Newland Volleyball Courts with the hunger to win, but failed to do so on both four court matches on Friday morning.

Before the Hornets’ (1-17) first game against Irvine valley started, the referee called all three teams which were facing each other and announced all the rules that stood in place for the event, and reminded coaches that communication with players during the game was not allowed.

The game consisted of five players pairs from each team facing each other on different courts and with their own final score. The game was played as a best-out-of three sets, each one ending at 21 points, and whoever’s pairings won the most matches won that match. Each win gave the team a game point, and whoever gets three wins or more, wins the game, giving Fullerton a disadvantage start.

Due to only eight players enrolled on Hornets’ team they started losing the game count by one point against a Lasers (9-11) team with their five pairs of players on the spot. “It will have to happen next year [Having five pairs of players]. We just don’t have enough girls in the program this year,” said Head Coach Rena Smith.

Hornets freshman Mareta Poe and freshman Camille Castillo fought and pushed in their two sets against the Lasers’ sophomore Chloe Swanson and sophomore Barett Nolan, scoring 10 points in each, but failed to catch their opponents in the race for the 21 on both occasions, losing their duel.

The other three duels did not make any difference, with each losing by a bigger gap. Fullerton freshman Arianna Islas and freshman Laura Gonzales scored 3 points in each set against Irvine Valley freshman Tessa Marocco and freshman Angie Griego.

“They had better strategies and better follow through with those [pre-game] plans,” said Smith after the first round.

The Hornets still had another chance to try and pull a win for the day facing Riverside.

With the Tigers (3-15) also missing a pair of players, things seemed more equal at the beginning of the game against the Hornets. However, they could not take advantage of it.

Freshman Amelia Hahs and Freshman Koby Kaihara were the only winning pair for the Hornets on the meet, beating Tigers’ freshman Lanah Bergen and sophomore Hoku Godoy on a game which had to go on to the third round due to a tie, and ended up as a point for the hosts.

The other three duos could not keep up and ended up losing, granting those three points for Riverside City who took the 3-1 win away from the Hornets.

Despite the results, Hornets players were optimistic on how the second game developed and differed from the first one. “Second game we did a lot better, so we are improving every time we play, and as long as we have a good attitude, you know we will play better,” said freshman Martha Misikei.

The Hornets next game will be against the Orange Coast Pirates (12-2) on Huntington Beach Newland Courts on April 22, at noon.