A 17-15 lead gave the El Camino Warriors’ women’s volleyball team some confidence to set up its hitters for action.
A big kill from sophomore outside hitter Nickeisha Williams slammed against the floor to give the Warriors an 18-15 lead.
After the serve, the ball came back and this time sophomore middle blocker Jewel Yandall attacked from the right side to push the lead to 19-15 and the Warriors rode the momentum to a 25-17 set one win.
No. 4 ranked El Camino (11-2 overall, 1-0 in the SCC) women’s volleyball took command of the match and won in straight sets (25-17, 25-12, 26-24) over unranked East Los Angeles College (5-7 overall, 0-1 in the South Coast Conference) Friday.
EC is 3-0 at home, with a set score of 9-0. The Warriors have not lost a single match or a single set at home.
“Starting off with a solid win is good,” coach Le Valley Pattison said. “The (bench players) played very good. Everyone needs to contribute when they can, and (you’re) just one injury away from being a star.”
The serving and defense was a big factor for the team; the Warriors put up 15 aces and 53 digs compared to the seven aces and 37 digs for the Huskies.
“It (defense) was really strong tonight,” sophomore middle blocker Nia Masui, who only played two sets, had three kills and one block assist, said. “It feels great to win and it’s important for the conference to know that we’re here to compete.”
There was a struggle with receiving for ELAC as the Huskies had 15 reception errors on the night, although Pattison had some nice words for the visitors.
“They were good,” she said. “We haven’t seen them yet, and they’re a little unpredictable. They were better than last year.”
Freshman setter Nina Wyer (13 assists) was the single starting setter early on in the season, and has been sharing setting time with freshman setter Cassie Montani; but today, freshman outside hitter Skyler Ceballos (14 assists) made a transition to setter.
Montani did not play setter today, but did have four digs as a defensive specialist.
“She was awesome,” Wyer said of Ceballos. “She’s a new setter and she’s working hard and her defense is better than mine.”
EC will head to Los Angeles Trade Tech College (LATTC) on Wednesday for another conference match at 6 p.m.
Yandall ended with some words for the Huskies, going into the future.
“They put up a good fight,” Yandall said. “They can always come back next time, maybe they won’t roll over and die.”
