The Long Beach City College women's volleyball team improved to 2-0 early in the season after its 3-0 sweep of visiting Ventura College on Wednesday at the Viking Gym. Long Beach cruised in its home opener, winning the match by scores of 25-14, 25-10, and 25-15.

Long Beach showed off its potent offense and was able to spread its balanced attack from each side of the court. LBCC jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first set thanks to four Ventura errors, led 15-4 after a kill by sophomore Danielle Tuitasi (Corona HS), and held a commanding 21-7 advantage after a kill from sophomore Kaitlyn McMahon (Los Alamitos HS).

It was more of the same in the second and third sets. The Vikings jumped out to a 13-4 lead in Set 2 after a kill from sophomore Celina Yandall (St. Anthony HS). And in the third looking for the sweep, the Vikings built a commanding 16-8 advantage after a McMahon kill. Freshman Jasmine Caldwell (Lakewood HS) sealed the victory with her cross court kill.

All 13 players on the active roster were able to get time on the court and contribute to the win. Head coach Suzie Witmer was proud of the all-around team effort.

"This was a great team win," said Witmer. "Every player on the team contributed to it in some way. I thought we served and passed well tonight, which really allowed us to spread our offense around and get a lot of players involved."

Yandall led the Vikings with 11 kills while McMahon and Tuitasi chipped in with nine kills. Sophomore Gabriela Gonzalez (Paramount HS) totaled 19 digs while freshman Sami Uepa (Poly HS) had a match-high 35 assists.

Ventura (0-2) committed 37 errors in the match. Gemma Stoll led the Pirates with five kills and added eight digs. Delaney Fautt totaled 11 digs while Inga McManus had nine assists.

Long Beach returns to action on September 14 when it will compete at the two-day San Diego Mesa tournament. The Vikings are back home on September 21 when they host San Diego Mesa at 5 pm.

Photo by John Fajardo