On the verge of their first win of the season, the Cerritos College volleyball team was unable to hold off visiting Riverside City College, who came back for a five-set win. The Falcons fell to 0-6 after their 16-25, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 12-15 loss to the Tigers (4-2). The team will now compete in the Santa Barbara City Tournament and play a pair of matches on Saturday.

In the second and third sets, Cerritos played their best volleyball of the young season and extended many of the points. Playing with only two subs (compared to eight for Riverside), the team received contributions from all of their players. One of their biggest downfalls was their 12 service errors and nine serve reception errors.

After soundly winning the third set, the Falcons fell behind 10-5 in the fourth set before scoring five straight points to tie the set at 10-10, with freshman Jody Suski (Cerritos HS) accounting for three of those points with kills. The teams each went on short runs until Cerritos took a 21-20 lead on a Nataly Reynoso (Pioneer HS) service ace. But the Tigers' Marcella Rodriguez caught on fire and posted three consecutive kills, which sealed the set for Riverside.

In the fifth and deciding set, the Falcons fell behind early, but slowly worked their way back to a 10-9 advantage. Just like in the fourth set, Riverside took advantage of four Cerritos attack errors and scored six of the next eight points to lock down the win.

Suski led the team with 19 kills, three service aces and added 22 digs, with freshman Cecilia Burroughs (Cabrillo HS) adding 18 kills, while sophomore Daisy Segura (Cerritos HS) finished with 11 kills and a team-high 25 digs. Taking over the setting duties, freshman Sabrina Rivas (California HS) dished out 50 assists and added 11 digs, with freshman Bianca Smith (Washington Prep HS) posting six kills. Reynoso finished with 18 digs in the loss.

Photos by Daryl Peterson