The Pasadena City College women's volleyball team didn't let late breakdowns in the first and fourth sets get in the way of defeating host Cerritos, 25-27, 25-7, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11, on Friday night. The state #22-ranked Lancers improved to 10-4 and 3-1 in South Coast Conference play.
Outside hitter Emma Yogan landed a career-high 23 kills (and two aces) while hitting .298. Setter Lindsay Delgadillo continued her solid play as well with 49 assists and three kills.
In the first set, PCC held set point at 24-21, but three straight kills by the Falcons' Jayda Harris-Amete tied it. A dump kill by Delgadillo again gave the Lancers again set point at 25-24, but Harris-Amete scored two of the next three straight kills to give Cerritos (5-3, 0-3) a 1-0 games lead.
The Lancers then played one of their best single sets of the season, routing the Falcons, 25-7 to tie it at 1-1. Yogan blasted an impressive eight kills as PCC hit .571 in the game.
PCC held set point, 24-19, in the third game but after losing two points, grabbed a 2-1 lead on Yogan's set-point kill, 25-21.
In the fourth, the Lancers again seemed to be in great shape, up 23-20, but Harris-Amete powered Cerritos on a 5-0 run, slamming two kills for a 25-23 Falcons' win that sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
Errors for both teams led to a 9-9 tie. But middle blocker Ashley Gilbert smashed two kills for a 12-10 PCC lead. Gilbert capped the 4-point fifth set with another kill as the Lancers celebrated the hard-fought victory.
Gilbert finished with 10 kills and two block assists while fellow middle blocker Ariana Pedroza was also a big factor on scoring 11 kills (hit .381). Outside hitter Reese Roper added eight kills and a team-high 15 digs, libero Makayla Chiechi served five aces and had nine digs while defensive specialist Karmen Turner came off the bench to match her PCC career-high with 12 digs and two aces.
PCC overcame a season-worst 17 service errors and the two blown sets.
"We're sometimes our own worst enemy," said PCC head coach Mike Terrill. "We had similar big leads in our only conference loss to Rio Hondo, but at least we found a way to not get down after both of those rough endings to sets v. Cerritos. Our offense has been very good of late as Lindsay has been distributing the ball to the hot players. Emma had a big hitting performance, and then we had some really great play from the middles as Ari and Ashley were outstanding, especially late in the match.
"Our theme has been trying to keep a positive mindset and focus. When we stay on task, we are a great team. We just have to figure out ways to avoid some of our letdowns."
The Lancers next host Los Angeles City College on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The Cubs are winless (0-8, 0-3) as the college is making its return to the sport after a 14-year absence. First serve is 6 p.m. at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.