Leading two games to one against Mt. San Antonio College with a share of second place in the South Coast Conference on the line, the Cerritos College volleyball team saw that advantage slip away, as they lost in five games. The 24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 10-15 setback drops the Falcons record to 13-9 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while the Mounties improved to 13-4 and 8-1. Cerritos will travel to Los Angeles Harbor College for a 6:00 p.m. conference match.

The Falcons had a chance to take an early lead in the match, but saw a 21-15 lead in the first game get away due to three straight attack errors and six total during the Mounties comeback. However, Cerritos was able to pull out wins in the second and third games and were one win away from moving into a tie for second place.

In the second game, the team squandered a 19-15 lead by allowing four straight points, but received a kill and service ace from Monica Vega (South Gate HS) to regain the lead. Holding a 23-22 lead, sophomores Valerie Montoya (La Mirada HS) and Natalie Caravantes (Baldwin Park HS) delivered kills to close out the game. The teams traded points until 8-8 in the third game, until the Falcons opened up a 14-9 lead, thanks to three Mountie attack errors and a kill from sophomore Jasmine Peralta (Lakewood HS) to hold a 14-9 lead.

Mt. SAC fought back for a 21-19 lead, but a pair of kills from Montoya and Vega pushed the team ahead, 23-22. That was followed by a Haley English (16 kills) kill for Mt. SAC, with Vega responding with one of her own. A bad set by Leau Quiocho capped off the game for the Falcons.

Cerritos trailed the entire fourth set until they tied it at 17-17 on a Mt. SAC attack error. The teams traded points until 21-21, but the Mounties posted the next four points, two coming on English kills, to knot the match at two games each.

In the winner-take-all fifth set, each team scored in two-point increments until it was tied, 10-10. The Falcons were called for a bad set and posted an attack error before a pair of Erica Gumz (18 kills) kills won the match for Mt. SAC.

Vega led the team with 16 kills, while Spigner finished with 15 kills and a team-high 19 digs. Freshman Kayley Stephens (Cypress HS) added 10 kills, with Montoya accounting for eight kills. Caravantes posted a career-high 49 assists and included three kills, 14 digs and two block assists.

Photos by Daryl Peterson