After the emotional high of knocking off South Coast Conference leader Rio Hondo on Oct. 18, the Pasadena City College women's volleyball team suffered the proverbial "letdown" early on at East Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 20. The now state #18-ranked Lancers scored just 11 kills in the first two sets alone, but managed to tie the Huskies at 1-1.
In the third set, the Lancers fell behind 21-16 and #22 ELAC appeared to take the momentum. Instead, after frequent substitutions in the rotation, PCC went on a 9-2 run to win set #3 and went on to post a 4-set victory, 25-18, 12-25, 25-23, 25-18.
The Lancers (15-6 overall, 8-3 in SCC play) have won four straight and are third place in the conference, just one game behind second-place #16 Long Beach City (9-2) and two behind #15 Rio Hondo (10-1).
Middle blocker Ashley Gilbert continues to be one of the more consistent-performing Lancers as she landed 11 kills and had three blocks. Outside hitter Emma Yogan had an up-and-down match, but finished with 14 kills and seven digs while OH Reese Roper totaled seven kills and 12 digs.
Libero Makayla Chiechi defended well with 26 digs while setter Lindsay Delgadillo dished out 37 assists with seven digs. Defensive specialist Kamea Vongfak made 16 digs.
The bench had some key contributions in MB Adriana Pedroza with three kills and a block in the last set, OH Ashley Marrone with two kills, OH Chayse Hoon a kill, four digs and two blocks and MB Katie Carius scoring two kills and two blocks.
"We still have a chance to catch Rio Hondo and Long Beach," PCC head coach Mike Terrill said. "To show some resiliency in the ELAC match and not let things get away from us was important. One of the hardest things to do is have a big win like we did at home v. Rio Hondo and then expect to have the same high efficiency the very next match. That's one of the best East LA teams they've ever had and they wanted to knock us off. We kept our composure and had a great rally in the third set, and played probably our best set in the fourth to finish off the win."
The Lancers hope to keep their eight-match home winning streak going on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in a 6 p.m. match v. Cerritos before playing at SCC cellar-dwellar Los Angeles City College on Friday, Oct. 27 (also 6 p.m.).