Battling for second place in the conference, the El Camino College Women’s Beach Volleyball team went down to the wire with the Mt. SAC Mounties at the ECC Sand Courts on Friday, March 22.
As the court one and five duos traded blows, players from both teams converged around the courts, eager to witness the outcome of the overall match.
Ending just minutes apart, the fall of court one duo, Warriors Ryan D’Angelo and Bridget Dorr by Mounties Zyra Green and Andrea Brewer, sealed the fate of Mt. SAC’s 3-2 match victory over El Camino.
“I was trying to come into the match with a lot of fire,” D’Angelo said. “My partner and I tend to come in a little bit slow and then pick it up in the second game and today that just did not work in our favor.”
D’Angelo, a 25-year-old psychology major, said she and her teammate Dorr fell into a “little funk” and had a passing breakdown leading to the errors that ceded their match to the Mounties.
“I’m not a good loser,” D’Angelo said. “I will think about it the rest of the day and I’ll try to come back next week and win.”
The Warriors came out strong with an early win on court two, courtesy of No. 2 duos Sophia Ortiz and Erica Griffiths. The duos handily defeated the Mounties’ Capri Salmon and Elizabeth Ortiz 21-14, 21-17.
The Mounties snapped back with a win on court three by Candace Ceballos and Angelina Griego, who outplayed Warriors No. 3 duos Bianca Atienza-Perez and Perla Lopez.
After tying the match 1-1, the Mounties came back firing on court four with Sam Parks and Kyra Miller. The pair overcame a 10-5 deficit with a 10-1 scoring run in the third set against Warriors No. 4 duos Adelynn Abrams and Yasmin Watanabe to take a 2-1 lead over the Warriors.
The Mounties improve to a 15-2 record this season, while the Warriors fall to 9-6.
Mt. SAC’s coach Samantha Neely knew that the match against El Camino would be a challenge but her mentality coming into the Warriors’ home was to apply what they had been practicing all week into their game.
“It was fun to watch both teams be challenged,” Neely said. “Ultimately, it came down to our girls. I told them at the end if it’s something that you want to happen, you’re gonna make it happen, and I think they did just that.”
When asked where the Mounties go from this match win, Neely said “Back to practice.”
“We’re starting the second round of conference, so we get to see every other team again and they’re going to be better next time, so we got to keep growing,” she said.
Warriors coach Liz Hazell noted that while the matches were a tough contest, the duos played hard. However, they were ultimately bested by a few costly errors and bad luck.
Hazell said the Warriors will return to practice focusing on upping their hustle and capitalizing on momentum. She underscored the team’s fitness as a strength, stressing the need for hard work in the upcoming week due to the looming competition.
“They played good,” Hazell said. “It’s just a few things didn’t go our way.”
Next Game
El Camino vs. Long Beach City College
Friday, March 29, 10 a.m., @ ECC Sand Courts
El Camino vs. College of the Desert
Friday, March 29, noon, @ ECC Sand Courts
