The Cerritos College volleyball team was defeated in the finals of the Cypress Invitational Saturday at Cypress College by the host Chargers, 30-27 in a close and well-played match.

Falcons’ right setter Pearl Arvizu said the team had just started playing its type of game “when it was already too late.

“If we played our game from the beginning, we would have beaten them easily, because they weren’t that intense.

“But it was a good game. We did our best.”

The Falcons breezed through pool play, winning seven of their eight games, opening with a split with Cypress, winning the first game 30-27 and dropping the second, 31-29.

Cerritos then swept past Cerro Coso (30-18 and 30-16), Allan Hancock (30-14, 30-12) and Citrus (30-24, 30-24) to make the playoff round.

After receiving a first round bye, the Falcons defeated Pierce College in the semifinal, 30-25.

The Falcons trailed Cypress, 26-17 when they rallied to cut the deficit to two, 28-26.

The Chargers went ahead, 29-26 when a Cerritos player was called for touching the net.

Cerritos scored on a block by Tiffany Amete to again pull within two, 29-27, but that was all the Falcons would get.

Vanessa Cid, Falcons middle blocker, said “We waited too long to get back at them.

“We should have started playing (more) intense from the beginning of the game.”