Turlock Christian varsity volleyball failed to pick up a victory in their preseason home opener on Thursday when they hosted Division-I Beyer High.

Albeit, the Eagles of TC never fully found their groove in their first game of the new year at Calvary Baptist, making simple and mental errors that cost them several points.

The result was a 3-0, (25-13, 25-7 and 25-17) sweep of the Eagles at the hands of the Patriots.

“The first set was a little disappointing then the second wasn't a big improvement, but in the third set I think they started to turn things around,” said TC head coach Ken Wynne.

The third set was the only time that the Eagles had any lead for the day.

TC led by as many as two points after they rallied from being down early on and took the lead at 9-8 followed by a 10-8 and then 11-9 lead before Beyer came back on a resurgence.

“I know that Beyer in the third set was lenient on us with their backups but then they brought their starters towards the end,” said Wynne of the final set. “Even with that in mind, our girls started to play their defense better and the positioning was better, and I think they finally decided to play volleyball.”

The opening set was a struggle with positioning as many of the Eagles were found at the wrong place at the wrong time and Beyer won the first set by a dozen.

In the second set, the Eagles completely imploded as they struggled to find any sort of rhythm and really found it tough to get the ball over the net or find the right touch on the ball.

“We’ve been working real hard on getting everybody in their home base for defense and we don't want the back row to take digs,” said Wynne. “They should take anything deep and the corners should cover that and we had the luxury of past years but we don't have that luxury this year.”

Sydney Mensonides and Danika Muller each had two kills apiece for the Eagles. Zoe Visaraga tallied a team-high 27 assists and Matyson Hooker finished with an ace and four digs.

“With our team being in a rebuilding year, I am very pleased with how we played against Beyer,” said Wynne. “We are still learning our positioning but we never let down, they kept on supporting one another and if they keep it up they will play better as a team and enjoy it all more, win or lose.”

In the third set, things began to click and the Eagles made better decisions by pressuring the Beyer bench to play up to par.

They went on to take a lead but the Patriots rallied 16-6 to end the night in straight sets.

“They started talking more and communicating in the third,  I think it’s starting to sink in, the stuff we’ve been working on during the week for our positioning,” said Wynne.

TC will travel in their next contest to take on Johansen at 6 p.m. Tuesday. 

“I think what they will learn is they have to get to their position and they have to hit the ground and those are some words I will share with them moving forward into our next game,” Wynne added.