Twelve ties and three lead changes came during the third set as the Long Beach City College Vikings’ women’s volleyball came into El Camino looking to walk away with its fourth win of the season.
Excitement was in the air and the crowd was holding up one finger and echoing “one,” indicating it was match point for the women’s volleyball team who led 2-0 in sets.
Letting the LBCC Vikings take a point back was not an option as sophomore libero Brooke Russell threw up the serve and aced off of a reception error from the visitors, ending the match with back-to-back aces to win set three, 25-22.
El Camino women’s volleyball (13-2 overall, 3-0 in the South Coast Conference) extended its SCC win streak to 24 after triumphantly defending home court, 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-23), against the Long Beach City College Vikings (3-11 overall, 1-3 in the SCC) Wednesday night.
“We handled them easy in the first two sets,” Coach Le Valley Pattison said. “It’s a good win, we have a big match on Friday against Mt. (San Antonio). They do a good job when they play at home.”
The defense was very strong for the team, as Russell led all defenders with 13 digs, followed by sophomore outside hitters Kezia Boyer’s nine and Nickeisha Williams’ eight.
The game wasn’t as easy for the Warriors as the score indicated; struggles in the third set almost forced EC to lose its second-home set of the season.
Freshman middle blocker Taylor Brydon felt the team was “slacking off” during the third-set deficit.
“We have to stay disciplined,” she said. “But it was a good way to end it, coming back (to win the third set).”
Russell added that the team needs to keep momentum in situations where the team is winning big in order to move on.
“We can’t let up,” she said. “We can’t be a roller-coaster team like that. It’s good we won though and I’m excited (for Mt. San Antonio).”
El Camino women’s volleyball will head to Mt. San Antonio this Friday at 6 p.m. in hopes of taking sole possession of first place in the SCC.
“(The win) does a lot,” sophomore middle blocker Jewel Yandall said. “It hypes us up and gets us ready for playoffs. We have to keep it up.”
