Women’s Volleyball: LBCC extends win streak to four with victory over Cerritos

Sophomore Danielle Tuitasi (pictured) totaled 11 kills, seven aces, and six digs to help lead the Long Beach City College women's volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-15, 22-25, 25-18 South Coast Conference win over visiting Cerritos College on Friday night at LBCC.

The win improved Long Beach to 10-7 overall and 6-3 in the SCC. LBCC has now won four straight matches, including 12 of its last 13 sets.

Freshman Jasmine Caldwell led Long Beach with 12 kills while freshman Sami Uepa posted 26 assists and 15 digs. Overall, the Vikings totaled 14 aces.

Long Beach cruised to wins in the first two sets before some nice serving by Cerritos and numerous errors by the Vikings allowed the Falcons to go up 17-10 in Set 3. LBCC slowly chipped away at the lead and got within one point late (23-22) after a kill by Tuitasi, but Cerritos closed out the set victory with a kill by Stephanie Ortiz and a Viking error to avoide the sweep.

Set 4 was close once again. The score was tied six times, including at 11-11 before the Vikings finally pulled away. LBCC scored five of the next seven points, and a Caldwell kill gave the Vikings a commanding 16-13 lead that they wouldn't give up. Freshman Vashti Nettles middle kill sealed the match win.

"We are really coming together as a team at the right time," said LBCC head coach Suzie Witmer. "I thought we served really well tonight which took them out of their rhythm."

For Cerritos (4-12, 3-6 SCC), Latia Peters had a team-high 10 kills and four blocks. Aniga Aiono totaled 27 assists, and Gloria Chang had 11 digs.

Long Beach returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 31) when it hosts El Camino College in a 6 p.m. conference match.