Long Beach City College freshman Jasmine Caldwell (pictured) posted a season-high 17 kills in a tough 3-1 South Coast Conference loss to visiting Pasadena City College on Wednesday night at LBCC.
Pasadena, ranked No. 10 in the state, won the match by scores of 25-19, 25-23, 23-25, and 25-21 to improve to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in conference. Long Beach dropped to 6-6 and 2-2 in the SCC.
Long Beach, coming off another tough five-set loss at No. 14 El Camino College on Friday, couldn't limit its errors and pull off the upset.
In the opening set, Pasadena jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back. Long Beach got as close as 15-13, but two Viking errors, an ace by Viridiana Gallardo and a kill by Jackie Valle- Acosta gave PCC a commanding 19-13 advantage on its way to the 25-19 win.
Pasadena jumped ahead early in the second set before Long Beach rallied back. The Lancers were up 7-3 before the Viking won six of the next eight points to tie the set at 9-9. Later in the set, a kill by Caldwell and a PCC error gave the Vikings their first lead at 13-12.
Long Beach appeared to be on its way to the second set victory after a kill by freshman Sami Uepa gave the Vikings a 23-21 lead. But three LBCC attack errors and a kill by Megan Callen allowed Pasadena to steal Set 2, 25-23.
Momentum seemed to be on Pasadena's side, but the Vikings didn't go down easy. Set 3 saw 13 ties with the Vikings finally coming out on top in the end. It was easy though as Long Beach was up 23-20 and had to hold off the Lancers. An ace by PCC's Briana Hilton tied the set at 23 before Caldwell slammed down a kill and sophomore Gabriela Gonzalez sealed the win with an ace to force a fourth set.
Set 4 was another nail bitter as neither team held a lead larger than two points until late. With the score 19-19, the experience of the Lancers came through. Three Long Beach errors allowed Pasadena to jump ahead while an ace from Jennifer Estrada secured the match win.
Despite another close loss, head coach Suzie Witmer was impressed by her team's effort.
"I was really proud of how the team battled throughout the match," she said. "A few different bounces and we might have had a different outcome."
Sophomore Danielle Tuitasi had a big match for the Vikings, posting 13 kills, 13 digs, and two blocks. Uepa totaled 30 assists, seven kills, seven digs, and two blocks. Freshman Lauren Moreno led the Vikings with 14 digs and freshman Melissa Yepez came off the bench and chipped in with 11 assists and seven digs.
Pasadena totaled nine aces on the night and got 11 kills from Gallardo and Noralia To'omalatai. Kailey Faust had 38 assists, eight digs, four kills, and three aces.
Long Beach will face its third straight ranked opponent on Friday (Oct. 12) when I travels to No. 14 Mt. San Antonio College for a 6 p.m. SCC match.
Photo by John Fajardo
