Troubled by a slow start to their South Coast Conference match against Long Beach City College on Wednesday night, the Cerritos College volleyball team was defeated, 11-25, 21-25, 22-25. The loss was the seventh in a row for the Falcons, who dropped to 1-8 overall and 0-2 in SCC play, while the Vikings improved to 6-4 and 2-0. Cerritos will look to snap their losing streak on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. conference match at Los Angeles Trade-Tech College.

The first game ended quickly, with the Vikings getting out to an early lead and taking advantage of several serve receiving errors and passing difficulties. However, in the second game, Cerritos was able to get out to the lead, but couldn't hold on, as LBCC turned to Lauren Moreno and Gabriela Gonzalez, who combined for six service aces. In fact, Gonzalez scored the final two points of the game on service aces.

The Falcons stayed close in the third game, thanks in part to freshman Susan Suski (Cerritos HS) and sophomore Latia Peters (Hesperia HS) at the net. However, with the game knotted at 22-22, Cerritos again encountered troubles at the net, while Sami Uepa earned blocks in the final two points of the match.

Peters (eight kills) and Suski (seven kills) led Cerritos offensively, while freshman Ashley Castro (Santa Fe HS) and Aniga Aiono (Lakewood HS) combined for 25 digs in the back row. For Long Beach City, Danielle Tuitasi (eight kills, 13 digs, four aces), Jasmine Caldwell (seven kills), Uepi (five kills, 11 digs, six assists) and Kaitlyn McMahon (five kills) led the way.