Taking on Mt. San Antonio College in the South Coast Conference Tournament consolation semifinals, the Cerritos College volleyball team came close to snapping their losing skid. The Falcons (1-22, 1-14) suffered a 26-28, 24-26, 22-25 setback at the hands of the Mounties. The team will close out their season at 5:00 p.m. next Tuesday against East Los Angeles College in the seventh place match at Long Beach City College. Cerritos opened conference play with a win over the Huskies.

In the first set, the Falcons held a 24-19 lead after a Cameron Puente (Mayfair HS) kill. But the Mounties benefitted from two attack errors and two ball handling errors to take a 25-24 lead. Puente knotted the match at 25-25 with another kill. A pair of kills from Mt. SAC's Jessica Morse was sandwiched by a kills from sophomore Alexia Torres (Downey HS). But a Falcon attack error gave the Mounties the first set win. Once again, Cerritos held a late lead in the second set only to see Mt. SAC come back and escape. Sophomore Brooke Winquist (Carlsbad International School, Czechia) gave Cerritos a 22-21 lead, followed by a kill from sophomore setter Mirka Granoble (Downey HS), which made it a 23-22 Falcon advantage. Sophomore Sierra Hernandez-Hardy (Bishop Amat HS) gave the team set point at 24-22, but a Mountie kill, followed by two Cerritos attack errors was followed by another Mt. SAC kill and the set.

Although the Mounties led from start to finish in the third set, the Falcons trailed by no more than four points at any given time. It was an 18-18 match after a Torres kill, until Mt. SAC scored four straight points for a 22-18 advantage. A Mt. SAC service error was followed by a Hernandez-Hardy kill to drew the Falcons to within 22-20. It was 24-22 after the teams traded four points, but Macy Barnes ended the match with a kill for the Mounties.

Torres and Hernandez-Hardy each recorded 12 kills, with Winquist (seven kills) and Puente (five kills) combining for 12 more kills for the Falcons. Granoble dished out 28 assists and added nine digs, with sophomore Lizbeth Vega (Paramount HS) leading the back row with 16 digs. Freshman Jackie Dixon (Gahr HS) also added five kills, three assists and 11 digs.