In a battle of state-ranked teams, the No. 25 Long Beach City College women's volleyball team was swept by No. 23 College of the Canyons on Friday at LBCC. Long Beach lost the match by scores of 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 to fall to 2-3 overall.
Despite the final result, the match was close throughout. The action reached its climax late in the second set that saw impressive rallies from both squads.
Canyons led 20-15 after a kill by Serena McDuff. Down by five, Long Beach rallied to erase the deficit. Sophomore setter Melissa Yepez (Paramount HS) had a pair of aces and a kill to lead the charge as the Vikings would pull even at 20-20. Long Beach went on to win nine of the next 10 points to earn set point at 24-21 after freshman Brianna Ritzius' ace.
But the Cougars didn't give up. Four kills by Lauren Underwood and a LBCC error gave Canyons the second-set win at 26-24.
"That second set was huge," said LBCC head coach Suzie Witmer. "I'm proud of my girls for fighting back, I just wish we could of had one more point. That would have changed things completely."
Long Beach tried to pull off another late comeback in the third set. Canyons led 20-15 before the Vikings got within two points. Sophomore Michaelah Brown's (Paramount HS) solo block cut the Cougars' lead to 23-21, but Underwood once again came through with back-to-back kills to seal the set and match victory.
Sophomore outside hitter Vashti Nettles (Poly HS, pictured) led the Vikings with 10 kills while sophomore libero Lauren Moreno (Wilson HS) had a match-high 18 digs. Yepez totaled 22 assists to go along with 11 digs.
Underwood led Canyons (3-1) with 17 kills while setter Jordan Carter had 34 assists and 13 digs.
Long Beach returns to action on September 20-21 when the Vikings will compete at the two-day San Diego Mesa/Grossmont Invitational tournament.
Photo by John Fajardo