Sophomore Lauren Moreno posted 18 kills to go with nine digs to help lead the Long Beach City College women's volleyball team to an emotional five-set win over rival Cerritos College on Wednesday as part of the college's "Dig for a Cure" cancer awareness event.
The 23-25, 25-17, 25-16, 19-25, 15-13 South Coast Conference victory snapped the Vikings' six-match losing streak and improved their record to 4-9 overall and 1-3 in the SCC.
After Cerritos won the opener and Long Beach took Set 2 to tie up the match, the Vikings kept momentum on their side with an impressive third-set win. Holding a narrow 8-6 lead, LBCC went on to win six straight points to take a commanding 14-6 advantage. Up 17-10, the Vikings went on another five-point streak to extend its lead to 22-10. Moreno's kill on set point gave the Vikings the win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
But the Falcons didn't go down easy. Cerritos stormed out to an 8-2 lead to open the fourth set before the Vikings responded with five consecutive points to get within one at 8-7. LBCC would get no closer as Cerritos was able to cut down any extended Viking runs. An ace by Moreno got LBCC within two at 18-16 and a kill by Andrea Morales once again cut the Falcons' lead to two at 19-17. Cerritos won six of the next eight points to secure the win and send the match to a deciding fifth set.
The Vikings got off to a 3-2 lead in Set 5 before streaking to win five of the next six points. An ace by Daniela Sanchez gave LBCC an 8-3 lead as the teams switched sides on the court.
LBCC appeared to be well on its way to the easy win after going up 12-6. But once again, Cerritos didn't go down without a fight. A pair of Long Beach errors, a kill by Amanda Payne, and an ace by Sara Hickman got the Falcons within two at 12-10. The teams closed out the set with four straight errors as Jasmynne Roberts' hit into the net sealed the win for the Vikings.
Long Beach got big contributions from numerous players on its roster. Moreno posted nine kills to go with 14 digs. Brianna Ritzius had a match-high 16 digs while Sanchez added 10 digs and two aces. Melissa Yepez led all with 46 assists to go along with 12 digs and Bra'Shawnda Byrd totaled seven blocks and six kills. Jasmine Caldwell had 10 kills and Michaelah Brown posted six kills and four blocks.
Roberts led Cerritos (5-7, 2-2 SCC) with 17 kills and added 14 digs. Chrissy Silavong totaled 23 assists and 12 digs and Ashley Castro had a team-best 16 digs.
Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Oct 18) when it travels to Los Angeles Harbor College for a 6 p.m. SCC match.
