Women’s volleyball tame East L.A. Huskies in straight sets

Warriors+sophomore+outside+hitter+Kezia+Boyer+posts+up+for+a+kill+against+East+L.A.+player+Yekaterina+Makarova+on+Wednesday+night.+Photo+credit%3A+Jorge+Villa

Warriors sophomore outside hitter Kezia Boyer posts up for a kill against East L.A. player Yekaterina Makarova on Wednesday night. Photo credit: Jorge Villa

Moments after a service error for the home team, the Warriors’ women’s volleyball team was intense Wednesday night.

They were now tied at 11-11 in the first set and the match seemed to be on even grounds.

The visiting team blew apart the gate and went on a 6-0 run. A big hit, an ace, and home-team errors gave the visitors a 17-11 lead over the hosts.

El Camino’s women’s volleyball team (18-2 overall, 8-0 in the South Coast Conference) marched into the East L.A. College Huskies’ (8-11 overall, 3-5 in the SCC) home court and kept the crowd quiet in a straight three-set sweep (25-17, 25-21, 26-24).

EC coach Le Valley Pattison said that she really liked the performances of freshman outside hitter/setter Skyler Ceballos and sophomore libero Brooke Russell.

“(Ceballos’) defense was good, and her early offense was good,” she said. “I like (Ceballos) in the game because of her ball control. I thought (Russell) played well and steadied the team when everybody needed to (relax).”

The setter position was shared tonight, as per usual this season, and Ceballos focused on the offense while she played setter and outside hitter in the front row, but thought there could be more emphasis on energy.

“I wanted to get everybody some sets,” she said. “But we need to work harder and (bring the energy), especially in a quiet gym. It’s a lot easier to play in a louder gym (with more energy).”

Russell agreed that there wasn’t enough intensity, but even though the Warriors played a match on Tuesday, she said that they weren’t tired.

“(I felt) like we didn’t have that much energy,” she added. “(But we) weren’t tired, we’re never tired.”

Sophomore middle blocker Jewel Yandall, who could not finish Tuesday’s match because of a night class, felt down about missing the game.

“It’s a bummer (to miss a game),” she said. “But you (have to) take care of business if you want to be on the court. It was weird coming back after not playing.”

El Camino hosted the match against East L.A. earlier this season and it was the same sort of match point-wise. The Warriors swept the Huskies (25-17, 25-12, 26-24).

Yandall said that the Huskies fought a lot harder this time considering her comments from the last match-up

They can always come back next time, maybe they won’t roll over and die,” she said

EC will host L.A. Trade Tech College on Friday at 6 p.m. in the South Gym.