Women’s volleyball fires up engines for playoffs; sweep Pasadena City College on the road

Freshman middle blocker Victoria Curtice and sophomore outside hitter Kezia Boyer block Pasadena City College’s Chy’Annea Hodges. EC won the match 25-15, 25-13, 25-22 on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Photo credit: Jorge Villa

Tension was mounting, the crowd was electric and it seemed like momentum was on the home team’s side.

The Lancers got a kill to push the lead 15-9 and the visiting Warriors coach Le Valley Pattison called timeout to regain composure.

“We just need to steady out, pass a little bit and get a touch on the block,” she said.

Sophomore middle blocker Jewel Yandall put down a kill right out of the timeout to silence the home crowd.

The Warriors completed the third-set comeback against the Lancers, 25-22.

The sixth-seeded El Camino women’s volleyball (20-2 overall, and 10-0 in the South Coast Conference) swept the Pasadena City College Lancers (11-7 overall, 6-4 in the SCC) on the road in straight sets (25-15, 25-13, 25-22) on Wednesday.

The team extended its South Coast Conference streak to 31 wins (the next closest is Grossmont’s 29 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference) and before the match Pattison said that the team should be more focused on the night’s match.

“(The win streak) is great,” Pattison said. “But I’m looking for some consistent setting tonight.”

Pasadena coach Kari Post said that she told her team to get a few points before the third set.

“We wanted to go out strong,” Post said. “EC is a great team, but this match was important for state ranking.”

Yandall said she felt good about the win and that Pasadena was much better than their last matchup with them, but there is much work to be improved upon for the Warriors.

“On a scale of one to 10,” she said. “They were a nine (tonight). We need to work on closing out the sets. We can’t be beating ourselves or get complacent.”

Yandall added that the blocking tonight was key for the win and said tonight’s game “was lit.”

Freshman middle blocker Taylor Brydon, who did not play against Trade Tech on Oct. 30 due to family issues, felt fine getting back into the swing of things.

“We did a great job responding (to the comeback),” she said. “They got on a run and they kept going, but we played them a week ago and (we prepared well).”

Sophomore libero Brooke Russell said the team was shaky in the third, but did comeback because the hitters put the ball away. She emphasized that the team needed to focus on getting better everyday.

The women’s volleyball team will head to Long Beach City College for another conference-match at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. After the LBCC match, follows next Tuesday’s 6 p.m. home match against the Mt. San Antonio College.

El Camino will travel to L.A. Harbor for their last road match on Friday, Nov. 13 and then the Warriors will end its season at home against Cerritos on Wednesday, Nov. 18.