Volleyball: Lead slips away in five-set loss to El Camino

El Camino

Cerritos

Final	1	2	3	4	5	T
El Camino (9-3, 1-0)	20	20	25	25	15	3
Cerritos (5-6, 0-1)	25	25	16	10	4	2

Rocio Rojo-Perez (22) posted a career-high 18 kills against El Camino

Game Leaders

El Camino

K: Taylor Brydon - 20

B: Victoria Curtice - 7

D: Aiko Waters - 18

SA: Brooklyn Rubio - 4

Cerritos

K: Rocio Rojo-Perez - 18

B: 2 Players (#4, #5) - 2

D: Dymond Johnson - 20

SA: Monica Vega - 2

Team Stats

El Camino

Cerritos

Hitting %

.280

.162

Blocks

12.0

4.0

Digs

Aces

full stats

Posted: Sep 23, 2016

After taking the first two sets in their South Coast Conference opener on Friday, the Cerritos College volleyball team was poised to pull an upset over El Camino College. The Falcons took the first two sets, 25-20, 25-20 against the Warriors, but seemed to lose energy as the match progressed and dropped the next three sets, 16-25, 10-25, 4-15. It was the fourth loss in a row for Cerritos (5-6, 0-1), who will travel to Los Angeles Trade-Tech College next Wednesday for a 6:00 p.m. conference match.

The attempts that fell for kills and digs that kept points alive in the first two sets, dissipated starting in the third set, which gave the Warriors (9-3, 1-0) more momentum. Cerritos was able to regroup after allowing consecutive points in the first and second sets and strung together multiple points on their way to a 2-0 lead in sets.

The Falcons were led by sophomore Rocio Rojo-Perez (Bellflower HS), who posted a career-high 18 kills and 17 digs, with sophomore Monica Vega (South Gate HS) contributing 11 kills and 13 digs. But the two could not make up for the quarter of El Camino players who started to control the net in the final three sets. Taylor Bryden had a match-high 20 kills, with Aiko Waters (14 kills), Jaylin Motley (12 kills) and Micah Hammond (11 kills) adding double-digit kills. As a team, the Warriors played a role in 12 total blocks with Cerritos countering with just four.

Sophomore setter Lorinet Marquez (Cerritos HS/Providence (CA) College) produced 43 assists and had 10 digs, with sophomore Dymond Johnson (Gahr HS) leading the team with 20 digs. Sophomore Jasmine McNeal (Long Beach Poly HS) finished with eight kills, while Mary Keil (Long Beach Poly HS) posted seven on the night.

Photos by Daryl Peterson