Facing a team with just one win all season, the Cerritos College volleyball team found themselves behind in the first two games of their South Coast Conference match against Los Angeles Trade-Tech College at Gahr High School on Wednesday. The Falcons faced game point in the first game before pulling out a 26-24 win, while the were down 4-1 to start the second game before escaping with a 25-21 win. They finished off the sweep with a 25-15 win to improve their record to 5-12 overall and 4-6 in the SCC. They will travel to El Camino College on Friday for a 6:00 p.m. conference match.
After knotting the first game 10-10, Cerritos fell behind by as much as 16-11, thanks in part the three straight services aces by Alba Perez. But then Trade-Tech had trouble getting the ball over the net and the Falcons were able to tie the game at 16-16, and finally took the lead at 19-18 when another attack went out. After a Latia Peters (Hesperia HS) attack went out, LATT led, 24-23 with a chance to steal the first game. A hitting error by Perez, followed by another attack into the net by Perez set the table for sophomore Andrea Garrett (Cerritos HS), who posted a service ace to finish off the game.
The second game saw the Falcons start out slow and trailed 4-1 before running off seven straight points. Trade-Tech didn't help their cause much, as they continued to struggle getting their attacks over the net, while Cerritos relied on Peters to come up with several big kills. The score got as close as 24-21 after a service ace by LATT's Olga Gomez, but freshman Stephanie Ortiz (Huntington Park College Ready Academy HS) drove home the winning kill to give the Falcons a sizable advantage.
It was a fast start by Cerritos in the third game that wore down the short bench of LA Trade-Tech, with freshman Jasmin Mitchell (Warren HS) coming off the bench to provide a pair of kills, while Peters (14 kills) helped seal the win with timely kills.
Joining Peters offensively was Garrett, who had eight kills, while the duo of freshman Chelsea James (La Mirada HS) and Ortiz each added four kills. Freshman setter Aniga Aiono (Lakewood HS) directed the offense with 24 assists, with Ortiz accounting for 18 digs, with freshman Ashley Castro (Santa Fe HS) and sophomore Gloria Chang (Bellflower HS) combining for 23 digs. For LA Trade-Tech, Perez finished with 11 kills, five service aces and nine digs, with Nicolette Cheathem posted 10 kills and 12 digs.
Photo by Daryl Peterson