For the Cerritos College volleyball team, their first set win over visiting Fullerton College on Wednesday turned out to be the high note in their non-conference match. For the Falcons (1-1), who opened the season with a sweep of Santa Ana College, they saw chances at winning the second and third sets slip away, before falling, 25-21, 21-25, 26-28, 16-25 to the Hornets (3-0). The team will now take a week off before playing in the San Diego Mesa/Grossmont Tournament on September 20-21.

In the all-important third set, Cerritos served for set point at 24-22 but Fullerton's Shawna Chung registered a kill before an attack error knotted the game at 24-24. The Hornets led, 25-24 and the Falcons were able to pull back into a tie score twice until another attack error resulted in the winning point and a 2-1 sets lead for Fullerton. 

Cerritos led 9-2 and 15-12 in the fourth set, but saw the Hornets run off nine straight points and 13 of the final 14 points to clinch the match. It was also a close second set match that Fullerton pulled out to pull the match even, as Madaline Barrett (15 kills), Shawna Chung (nine kills) and Alanna Hayhurts (nine kills) led the way.

Countering for the Falcons was freshman Amanda Payne (Orange Lutheran HS), who had a team-high 14 kills, while freshman Jasmynne Roberts (Long Beach Poly HS) contributed 11 kills in the loss. Effective early on, freshman Nicole Spigner (La Mirada HS) finished with six kills and 14 digs, but committed seven kill errors, as they team posted 33 on the night. Freshman setter Crissy Silavong (Katella HS) dished out 23 assists and had 13 digs, with freshman Michelle Barba (Downey HS) added 13 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore Ashley Castro (Santa Fe HS) led the back row with 19 digs.

Photos by Daryl Peterson