Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball Splits Pair on Northern Trip to Gavilan College

No. 5’s team of Jocelyn Portillo/Brianda Valdez
No. 5’s team of Jocelyn Portillo/Brianda Valdez

(Gilroy, CA) The Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball Team is off to a great start to the 2019 season with a 5-2 record. The Mounties have completely flipped the script from last years' inaugural season, when they started 2-5.

The team traveled north for a pair of matches at host Gavilan College (Gilroy, CA) on Saturday (3/2).

The Mounties dropped the morning match, 3-2, to Gavilan, but came back with a strong performance in the afternoon with a, 5-0, sweep against Foothill College.

"The team did well this weekend," Coach Ali Carey-Oliver said. "Gavilan was a strong team. We handled the 1's and 5's well, but the 2's, 3's and 4's came up just a bit short. All of our pairs competed and kept scores tight. The 2's and 3's could have gone either way, but I'm proud of how everyone played."


Gavilan 3, Mt. SAC 2

In the morning match, a strong Gavilan Team came away with the close match. Mt. SAC's No. 1 pair of Juliana Gomez/Samantha Neely extended their early-season winning streak to six, with a 21-17, 22-10 win.  The other win for the Mounties was by the No. 5's team of Jocelyn Portillo/Brianda Valdez, 21-11, 21-16.

"Juliana (Gomez) and Sam (Neely) are a force to be reckoned with," Carey-Oliver said. "They're playing great right now. Jocelyn and Brianda are probably one of the best 5's out there."

Results:

  • No. 1 - Gomez/Neely (Mt. SAC) def. Katia Dizon/Sarah Weiby (GAV), 21-17, 22-20
  • No. 2 - Mikeila Banda/Keona Stopper (GAV) def. Carr/Palos (Mt. SAC), 21-17, 22-20
  • No. 3 – Kaitlyn Viray/Flo Tukuoaga (GAV) def. Lindsey Lane/Alysha Tullar (Mt. SAC), 21-17, 21-17
  • No. 4 - Melissa Zanotto/Evelyn Clonts (GAV) def. Macy Barnes/Jessica Morse (Mt. SAC), 21-15, 21-12
  • No. 5) Portillo/Valdez (Mt. SAC) def. Zoe Harada/Adrianne Orahood (GAV), 21-11, 21-16

Mt. SAC 5, Foothill 0

In the afternoon match, the Mounties matched their last season total of five wins by sweeping all five pairings.

Gomez and Neely extended their winning streak to seven wins with identical scores of 21-15, 21-15 and No. 2's Malia Carr/Shaiann Palos picked up their second win of the season, after an 0-5 start.

"After the tight Gavilan match, we bounced back to sweep Foothill with all pairs winning in two sets," Carey-Oliver said. "Despite the sporadic rain and gusts of wind, we managed to keep our focus and play some very good volleyball (Saturday 3/1)."

Results:

  • No. 1 - Gomez/Neely (Mt. SAC) def. Fiona Green/Hannah Rosen (Foot.), 21-15, 21-15
  • No. 2 - Carr/Palos (Mt. SAC) def. Oliva Subblefield/Leanna Zamora (Foot.), 21-19, 21-11
  • No. 3 – Lane/Tullar (Mt. SAC) def. Karina Lucero/Alaina Valenzuela (Foot.), 21-14, 21-19
  • No. 4 - Barnes/Morse (Mt. SAC) def. Nat Gonzalez/Sydney Do (Foot.), 21-15, 21-17
  • No. 5 - Portillo/Valdez (Mt. SAC) def. Alyssa Topete/Devon Nemelka (Foot.), 21-9, 21-10

"We feel good about our 5-2 start," Carey-Oliver said. "Obviously, we'd like to be 7-0, but our two losses came to two strong teams." Both of those duals ended 3-2. "We are clearly right there with both Cypress and Gavilan. We're looking forward to starting conference."

The Mounties next match is a three-way at El Camino College, on Friday (3/8), where the Mounties will face Ventura, Pasadena Club and South Coast Conference opponent El Camino.

Mt. SAC Pairs' record through seven matches:

1's – Gomez/Neely, 7-0

2's – Carr/Palos, 2-5

3's – Lane/Tullar, 3-4

4's – Barnes/Morse, 5-2

5's - Portillo/Valdez, 6-1

Follow Mt. SAC Women's Volleyball on Twitter @MtSAC_BeachVB

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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.