The Hawks women’s volleyball team lost to Diablo Valley College in three sets on Wednesday evening.

The match marked Cosumnes River College’s first Big 8 conference game of the season.

“It wasn’t the best we could have done,” said middle hitter Hannah Norris. “It was a little low-energy, we needed more communication. We were doing the right technique, but we beat ourselves more than they beat us.”

Despite the loss, there were some great plays, including a number of digs from outside hitter Justine Busse against the Diablo Valley Vikings’ hard-hitting middles.

“Digs are probably one of the most important things, because it’s what gets the play started,” Busse said. “You have to get a good pass to be able to get a good set or a good hit. Without a good pass you can’t really do anything else, so it’s pretty much what starts the game.”

The Hawks lost the first set 25-17 but battled the Vikings for points in the second before they briefly took the lead at 15-14. A few communication errors gave Diablo Valley the upperhand at 22-17.

Norris had a short serving run, but Diablo Valley closed the second set with a 25-22 win.

The third set was point-for-point, with a kill and an ace in the first few plays by setter Lauren Smith. Smith and Norris ran slides when they saw how effective they were against the Vikings.

“That was obviously the hit that was working the most, and it felt good [to hit],” said Norris.

But the Hawks lost their momentum and the Vikings won the third set 17-25.

The team will continue to improve communication issues in practice, said CRC volleyball head coach Kari Post. Post said she also plans to teach the team to control the momentum of the game by simulating situations in which the players are down in the score.

The Hawks haven’t won a Big 8 conference game in the past three years, but Post and the players are eager to prove themselves.

“I think that we definitely will be able to measure against the conference this year from this match,” said Post. “There’re also a few things that I know we need to work on, and I’m ready for practice tomorrow.”