After breezing through this year’s EC Classic, the Warriors ran over the first pothole on their way to another state championship, losing to Pierce College in the semifinal round of this year’s San Diego Mesa tournament.

However, EC bounced back and beat Cuyamaca College to finish in third place at the tournament, but the women were still disappointed that the team could not repeat their first place finish at last year’s tournament.

Before the tournament, the Warriors defeated Cypress College in three sets, 25-15, 25-22 and 25-18.

“I was really excited to play in this tournament, especially since the team won it all last year,” freshman Erika Kirby said.

Yesterday, the Warriors travelled to Golden West in the only match of the season against the Rustlers before hosting L.A. City next Friday.

Palomar College was the first opponent the Warriors faced in the tournament, and was able to pick up the victory, winning the match in four games 25-22, 25-20, 18-25 and 25-20.

Sophomore Amrita Tuladhar led the team with 12 kills and Kirby added 10 more in their opening round victory over Palomar.

Sam Taylor once again proved to be a cornerstone of the team, picking up 20 digs and adding 2 blocks, while Karina Woehrstein added a team-leading 27 digs.

“Our opening round was surprisingly easy and our freshman got a chance to get a lot of playing time,” Woehrstein said.

EC faced Cuyamaca in the next round, and the Warriors were able to breeze through and win the three game match 25-14, 25-14 and 25-16.

Everyone on the team got a chance to play during the match and contributed to the victory.

Mali Hamada had 3 kills and 3 serving aces while freshman Courtney Wilson added 3 kills and 2 blocks in 2 games.

Katie Krynen knocked down 5 kills with 1 block and Kirby had a team leading 11 digs and 5 kills in the three-game victory over Cuyamaca College.

“Our freshman played great in all the games, but especially against Cuyamaca. I am really proud of them,” Worhrstein said.

EC faced off against Pierce College in the semifinal round, facing them for the second time this season, after beating the team in the EC Classic just 2 weeks prior by scores of 25-23, 29-27, 28-30 and 25-19

“Pierce was our best competition at the tournament, but we didn’t play well enough as a team to pull out a victory,” Woehrstein said.

EC played well during the first game, winning 25-22, but could not keep it going the last three games losing 16-25 15-25, and a hard fought last game 24-26.

Taylor had 11 digs and 3 serving aces during the match and Ashley Hardy picked up 5 kills, 3 digs and 2 blocks.

Deja Dickerson and Amrita Tuladhar led the offense with a combined 19 kills, 14 digs and 5 blocks, but it was just not enough to defeat a very talented Pierce squad.

“We did not play together as a team against Pierce, and it really showed after we lost the second game,” Woehrstein said.

EC faced Moorpark College in the final round, and the Warriors were able to defeat them to pick up a four game victory 25-15, 25-12, 22-25 and 25-17, finishing the tournament in third place.

Hardy had a team leading 11 kills as well as two blocks and Amrita Tuladhar knocked down 10 kills and had 12 digs and 2 blocks.

Dickerson, Kirby and Jo Tulikihihifo each had 7 kills to help the offense defeat Moorpark and advance to the semifinal round.

“Our young players are playing great and are a big reason why our team is doing well,” coach Levalley Pattison said.

“We played a bad game against Pierce,” Woehrstein said.”We were able to place third in this tournament against some very good teams which makes me think that we are on the right track this season.”

EC hosted Santa Monica Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time.