In what has been a familiar story since their last win which came on the 28th of September, Chico State volleyball came in and took the first set in Friday nights contest against Cal State San Marcos. Only to end up squandering opportunities and losing in five sets for the third straight game and sending their season free-falling to a 4-8 division record and 11-9 record overall.

This is the fourth straight loss and sixth in seven games for the Wildcats. The final score being, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23 19-25, 15-12. The loss of head coach Cody Hein to a heart operation early in the month of October could be the cause of this rough patch. For they have lost each of the three games coach Hein has been absent from in five sets.

“It’s never fun to lose,” Interim head coach David Irving said.” It definitely adds extra adversity losing your head coach in the middle of the season. I feel incredibly respected for how hard the girls have worked for me and I don’t know if the results would have been different if Cody was here.”

Despite the obvious distraction losing your head coach will bring, Irving has kept the Wildcats competitive and never having them lose by more than seven. Especially tonight, five Wildcats finished with double-digit kills, Nicole Desrochers stacked up a career-high 57 assists and Brooke Fogel also set a career-high with 28 digs.

“It’s definitely an adjustment but the current coaching staff is doing a great job at keeping everything normal,” Middle hitter Makaela Keeve said. “Of course, we have Cody in our thoughts. We go out there and we work hard for him, we fight for each other, but it’s something we try not to let overbear our thoughts.”

With no timetable set for coach Hein to return and with seven games left in the regular season, time is running out for the Wildcats. Every win becomes more crucial than ever if they want to make the California Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs.

“It’s frustrating knowing you’re right there in every game and we have to figure out how close,” Outside hitter Kennedy Greenwood said. “Losing coach Hein has made things different but not in a bad way. I mean we could have won those games. Our current coaching staff has done a great job of battling this adversity.”

Chico State’s next game is at home against University of California, San Diego on Saturday, Oct. 13th at 7 p.m. in Acker Gymnasium.

Ricardo Tovar can be reached at [email protected] or @rtovarg13 on Twitter.