The sky is the limit right now for the state #14-ranked Pasadena City College women's volleyball team after it scored a marathon upset over host #13 Moorpark, 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 26-28, 16-14, Wednesday evening.
The Lancers are 5-2 and moved their winning streak to four matches by winning at a difficult road venue at Moorpark for the first time in the rally-scoring era (0-5 at the Raiders home since 2001).
Tied 1-1, in the third set, Moorpark staved off set point four times before middle blocker Ashley Gilbert slammed a kill for a 3-point win and a 2-1 PCC lead.
In the fourth set, it was PCC fighting off several set point in extras with frosh MB stepping in it at opposite Karsyn Gwinnup, hitting a kill to tie it at 25-25 and Gilbert at 26-26. Moorpark and top player Cashe Olswang prevailed to send it to the winner-take-all fifth set.
Errors for both teams littered the nail-biting finale game, but OH Emma Yogan and MB Itzel Aguayo hit back-to-back kills for a 7-5 PCC lead. The teams kept trading points until 14-14 with Roper landing a big kill as the Lancers celebrated a huge program win.
Setter Lindsay Delgadillo, who played behind sophomore wizard Bia Silva (now at UC Riverside) last season, emerged both defensively--a career-high in digs with 26--and offensively with 43 assists (her high was 45 last year v. East LA).
"Lindsay has led the offense well and her strong mentality keeps us cool," said PCC head coach Mike Terrill. "She also had a stellar defensive night. Itzel turned in another efficient performance, and her potential is unlimited as she will keep getting better. Karsyn stepped up on the opposite and took confident swings in big moments! It's exciting to watch this group continue to build a strong team identity."
Yogan finished with 16 kills and 13 digs while OH Reese Roper, fresh off her State Player of the Week selection, added 11 kills and 14 digs. Again, the team's middles were a big factor as Aguayo ripped 13 kills (.407) with five blocks (two solos) and Gilbert added seven kills and five blocks (also two solos).
Six different Lancers totaled double figures in digs as libero Makayla Chiechi had 24 digs and Kamea Vongfak contributed 13 digs. Thanks to a number of long rallies, the Lancers amassed 103 team digs, the most by a PCC team since 2019 and the first time since ironically a 5-set loss at Moorpark in 2021 that PCC reached the century mark (exactly 100 in that contest) in the defensive statistic.
The match nearly took 2-1/2 hours in duration.
"The intensity and focus our team is playing with on defense impresses me," Terrill said. "There were so many long rallies, and it's fun to watch players competing at their best."
Pasadena next hosts its PCC Quad #2 on Friday, Sept. 8 as the Lancers play unranked teams in Fullerton (11 a.m.) and 210 Freeway rival Citrus (2 p.m.).
Itzel Aguayo with the attack
