Taking on one of the top ranked schools in Southern California, the Cerritos College volleyball team was swept by host El Camino College, 27-29, 19-25, 16-25. The Falcons (8-13, 2-3) now have just three matches remaining on the season and will host Los Angeles Trade-Tech College at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

Just like they did in their first meeting, Cerritos opened up strong against the Warriors (18-3, 5-0) and fought back from a 20-14 deficit in the first set. They tied the score from 21-21 all the way until 27-27 until El Camino scored consecutive points to post a win in the first set.

The first set comeback was aided by a pair of Grace Mendez (King City HS) kills, along with a kill from Mary Keil (Long Beach Poly HS) and a service ace by Lorinet Marquez (Cerritos HS/Providence, CA College). They finally tied the match at 21-21 on an ECC attack error and benefitted from a service error, coupled with a pair of Monica Vega (South Gate HS) kills to maintain a continuous tie. Jasmine McNeal (Long Beach Poly HS) recorded a kill to knot the set at 25-25, while two more Warrior errors kept the Falcons alive. A pair of El Camino kills sealed the first set at 29-27.

Cerritos fell behind early in the second set and were unable to mount any kind of momentum, while they held an early 6-3 lead in the third set. However, El Camino recorded 14 of the next 18 points for a sizeable lead and went on to the sweep.

Vega led the team with eight kills and 11 digs, with Mendez finishing with six kills and a pair of block assists. Marquez dished out 24 assists, while McNeal posted five kills and two block assists.