Since the start of South Coast Conference play, the state #13-ranked Pasadena City College women's volleyball team had a target on its back. This year, the defending undefeated in conference champions (18-0 last year) are experiencing the full effects of fellow SCC teams rising to the occasion to beat the Lancers.
Long Beach City College, coming into the match with a 1-13 overall record and winless in SCC games at 0-7, performed the state's greatest upset of the season to date in shocking PCC in four sets, 25-17, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
Making the Vikings win even more amazing is that they had come into the match having lost 24 consecutive sets as part of a 9-match losing streak and directly were coming off being swept by two under .500 in SCC play teams in Cerritos and East Los Angeles.
The Lancers (13-6) dropped out of conference title contention at 4-4 (fourth place) with four SCC matches left. It was the third time in conference play that PCC lost to a state unranked Top 25 team after earlier upset defeats v. El Camino and Rio Hondo (now at #21). Pasadena also is still feeling the crushing blow of a reverse sweep (up 2-0, lose in five) v. first-place Mt. San Antonio.
"We didn't compete hard enough in the first two sets and gave Long Beach life," said PCC head coach Mike Terrill. "They played harder than us and we made too many unforced errors. I loved our response in the third set and the start of the fourth but we fell short."
The biggest factor v. Long Beach was the Lancers made 37 unforced errors (20 attack, 15 service and two ballhandling) while the Vikings were playing mostly flawless volleyball. Long Beach committed just 11 unforced errors, including just eight on attack and only two on serves.
The 26-point differential was a set's worth of points and proved large despite PCC totaling a season-high in kills, winning that category decisively, 57-43. Long Beach's 43 kills, 40 set assists and 56 total team points scored (statistical category) were all team season highs.
PCC also was shaky on its serve receive which disrupted the passing game and in turn allowed Long Beach to be in position to set up for powerful counter attacks. LBCC hitters Caleyse Saunders and Danika Iosua combined for 26 kills (and 28 digs), many on thundering swings.
Emma Yogan led PCC's attack with 14 kills while Kyley Chang added 13 kills. Ashley Gilbert contributed eight kills, eight digs and served three aces and Reese Roper chipped in seven kills and four block assists. Setter Bia Silva totaled eight kills, 38 set assists, and 13 digs. Makayla Chiechi grabbed the libero jersey for the final three sets and made 16 digs.
After recovering to win the third set, PCC jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fourth. A 15-5 Vikings run capped by an Emma Pearson ace took the wind out the Lancers sails. While PCC would tie it four times, the last at 23-23, two Saunders kills closed out the match in a rare victory celebration for Long Beach this season.
Things don't get easier for the Lancers as they travel to face #11-ranked Mt. San Antonio on Friday night at 6 p.m.