The Long Beach City College women's volleyball team suffered its third five-set loss of the season, falling 3-2 in a South Coast Conference match at No. 16 state-ranked El Camino College.

The 25-27, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 loss dropped Long Beach to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in the SCC. El Camino improved to 9-3 and 3-0 in conference play.

The first set illustrated just how competitive this match would be with both teams battling to 10 ties and five lead changes in the frame. The Vikings jumped out to a 6-2 lead but the Warriors went on a 10-3 run to take a 12-9 lead. Following a Vikings timeout, the visitors went on a 13-4 scoring run of their own to take a commanding 22-16 lead and they were seemingly on their way to a one set lead.

But the Warriors clawed back to tie the game 23-23 and then had set point on two different occasions, but the Vikings fought off both of those points and eventually won the set when Nicole Echeverri's kill attempt sailed out of bounds for the Warriors.

After taking the next two sets, the Warriors struggled to put the Vikings away, trailing for the majority of the fourth set. They made a run late and even took a 21-20 lead on consecutive aces by Echeverri, but the Vikings regrouped and took four of the next six points to send the match to a decisive set.

In the fifth, the Vikings led 8-6 at the changeover, but the Warriors finished the set on a 9-3 scoring run to win the match.

The Vikings are back in action on Wednesday (Oct. 10) at 6 p.m. when they host No. 12 Pasadena City College.

Photo by John Fajardo