The women’s volleyball team battled hard on Saturday night, but came up short in a 5-set match against the Sonoma State Seawolves.

“We just need to believe that we can win,” outside hitter Kyle Lamet said. "And believe that we’re as good as the other schools out there.”

The Gators were strong for the first two sets but lost momentum in the following three sets (15-25, 22-25, 9-15.) They are now 4-12 in the CCAA and 11-14 in the season.

Libero Christina Johnson said the loss was “all about communication, we’ll do that for the first couple of sets.”

The entire first set was neck-and-neck with 13 ties.

The Gators came out on top with aces by setter Mary Maiocco and ending with a kill by outside hitter Beth Perkins. The set ended with the purple and gold taking the set 26-24.

Momentum built up for the Gators in the second set and passed the Seawolves after a 3-3 tie early in the set. They took the set 25-18.

But the Gators lost steam in the third set, never passing the Seawolves and losing the set 15-25.

“We just need to keep the energy up and have positive feedback,” Lamet said of losing energy during the third set.

During the fourth set, the teams stayed tight point-wise, but the Seawolves had a meaner bite and took the set 22-25.

The ladies came back with a tough battle in the fifth set, and it looked like we might take the win in the end.

“We were talking before the fifth and we were like ‘we can’t lose this,’” Johnson said. But despite their efforts, Sonoma took the final set 9-15.

“We were really strong our first couple games and we got really relaxed,” Perkins said. “We just need to come together.”