Women’s Volleyball: Vikings snap losing streak with sweep of L.A. Trade-Tech

Sophomore Helen Marangos (center) totaled 4 kills and 4 aces while sophomore Selesitina Felise (right) had 11 assists and 3 aces in LBCC's win over LA Trade-Tech. (File photo by John Fajardo)
Sophomore Helen Marangos (center) totaled 4 kills and 4 aces while sophomore Selesitina Felise (right) had 11 assists and 3 aces in LBCC's win over LA Trade-Tech. (File photo by John Fajardo)

The Long Beach City College women's volleyball team snapped a six-match losing streak thanks to a 25-16, 25-16, 25-18 South Coast Conference win over visiting Los Angeles Trade-Tech College on Friday at LBCC. The sweep improved the Vikings to 3-10 overall and 1-2 in conference play.

In each of the three sets, the Vikings got off to big leads early and were never challenged.

In the opener, LBCC jumped out to a 5-1 advantage after an ace by freshman Kassidy Harrington (Western HS). The Vikings held leads of 9-3, 15-6, and was up 21-10 after consecutive Trade-Tech errors. After a Beavers rally, LBCC led 22-16 before the Vikings got back-to-back kills by freshman Alexxis Todd (Lynwood HS) and an ace by sophomore Helen Marangos (Santa Fe HS) to close out the set.

The second set was more of the same. With the score tied 4-4, the Vikings rallied for seven straight points behind the serving of sophomore Selesitina Felise (Sacramento, CA) and won 10 of the next 11 to jump out to a commanding 14-5 advantage. Kills by Todd and sophomore Rebecca Artiago (Lakewood HS) gave LBCC set point before a Trade-Tech service error gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead.

With momentum clearly on their side, LBCC stormed out to a 14-3 lead in the third. Long Beach led 23-11 and appeared to be on its way to a quick final set. But the Beavers rallied once again, taking advantage of three Viking errors to win seven of the next eight points. With match point at 24-18, freshman Regan Stanton (Lakewood HS) slammed down the kill to earn the set and match victory for the Vikings.

Todd and freshman Gloria Watson (Immaculate Heart HS) paced Long Beach with eight kills each with Todd adding six digs. Marangos also had a productive night with four kills and four aces. Freshman Mary Delgado (Lakewood HS) led LBCC with 21 assists and sophomore Karissa Pluma (Poly HS) totaled 18 digs.

LBCC returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 14) at 6 p.m. when the Vikings travel to take on El Camino College in a SCC match.