The Dougherty Valley women’s varsity volleyball team lost to the Carondelet Cougars at a home game on Sept. 13, losing all three sets and bringing their record to 2-6.

The Cougars narrowly defeated the Wildcats 25-21 in the first set and 27-25 in the second. Unable to make a comeback, the Wildcats lost 25-20 in the third set as well.

“We didn’t play our best,” Head Coach Hallahan said. “They made some errors that are uncharacteristic [of them], and you keep making errors like that and it costs you.”

Throughout the first set, junior Lilia Kazerooni dominated the front row, spiking the ball across the net and blocking incoming attacks. Despite the team’s strong performance on both offense and defense, the Wildcats were unable to overcome the Cougars.

The Cougars scored the first point of the second set; however, the score did not differ by more than four points throughout the entire set. Early in the set, Kazerooni was forced to step out after a minor injury following a spike. The Wildcats were one point from winning the set at 24-23, but were unable to claim the victory after missing a serve and losing a few rallies.

The final set started off with a serve from sophomore Alivia Gee. Similar to the second set, the score never differed by more than four points. At 5-5, senior Taylor Knight spiked the ball across the net where the Cougars were unable to reach it before it hit the ground, putting the Wildcats in the lead. Despite Dougherty’s best efforts, however, Carondelet beat the Wildcats for the third consecutive time and won the game.

Reflecting on the outcome of the game, junior Elizabeth Lee stated, “We just need to finish as a team and play always to the end of the game.”

The Wildcats will face San Ramon Valley on Sept. 20 and Granada on Sept. 25.