By Henry Severson
Long Beach, CA -- The Vikings (5-3) took the court against the Rio Hondo Roadrunners (3-6) in Long Beach on Friday, with just press in attendance. Looking to continue their hot-streak, Long Beach cruised to a 3-0 victory in straight sets.
Coming off back-to-back straight set wins against LA Harbor and East LA, the Vikings resumed their recent dominance, winning their 9th consecutive set. Long Beach came strong out of the gate, opening with a 4-1 lead in the first set. Clearly the bigger and more physical team, the Vikings ended the first set on a 7-0 run after a critical timeout by Coach Tyler Jackson. The Vikings won the first set 25-16 in convincing fashion. The second set had Long Beach in familiar territory, jumping out to a 12-5 lead early on. They utilized the momentum, and wound up winning the second set 25-11. As with the first two sets, the third set saw the Vikings set the tempo with a 4-0 start. Never trailing in the third set, Long Beach put the nail in the coffin with a 25-16 win.
Freshman Jennifer Lias, from San Gabriel, CA, once again led the Vikings with 8 kills, showing off what she does best. Fellow freshman Caleyse Saunders, out of Las Vegas, contributed 6 kills of her own. The freshman setter and Lakewood High alum, Pearlnaiah Tuliau, dished out a team-high 22 assists. Sophomore, Downey, CA native Celestial Ropati provided a team-high 18 digs, to round things out.
The Vikings travel to take on Pasadena on Wednesday, September 22 at 6:00 PM.
