On Friday, the Cerritos volleyball team dropped a four-set match to visiting Long Beach City College, 18-25, 23-25, 25-16, 14-25. The setback puts the team's record at 6-7 overall and 1-2 in South Coast Conference play. The team will now travel to Los Angeles Harbor College on Wednesday for a 6:00 p.m. match.

After a first set where the Falcons stayed close (17-14) but saw the Vikings (9-2, 3-0) score eight of the next 12 points, they turned things around and came close to grabbing the second set. In that second set, there were 11 tie scores and five lead changes, with Cerritos leading 23-22 and serving. Kills by Elsa Woods and Sarah Miller put LBCC ahead and they closed out the set on a service ace.

The Falcons could have struggled to regroup and roll over, but they came back with their best set of the night, as they hit at a 42% accuracy. They opened up a quick 6-1 lead and started to pull away when they game was at 14-11. A kill by sophomore setter Lorinet Marquez (Cerritos HS/Providence, CA College) followed by an attack error put the team up by five points. Three more attack errors by Long Beach aided the Falcons, with kills from sophomores Rocio Rojo-Perez (Bellflower HS) and Mary Keil (Long Beach Poly HS) drawing the team closer to the set win.

Three straight kills by sophomore Monica Vega (South Gate HS), and then another to finish off the set, put Cerritos in good shape heading into the fourth set. But LB City came out and scored points in bunches, with the Falcons unable to string together any points.

Keil led the Falcons with 15 kills and added 12 digs on the night, with Vega posting nine kills and Rojo-Perez adding eight kills and seven digs in three sets. Marquez led the offense with 35 assists and added 10 digs and three block assists, while sophomore Jasmine McNeal (Long Beach Poly HS) finished with six kills and four block assists.

Photos by Daryl Peterson