By John M. Sherrard
(Walnut, CA) After losing its first South Coast Conference North match since November of 2015 to rival Pasadena City College, The Mt. SAC Women's Volleyball Team quickly bounced back to begin a new South Coast Conference (SCC) streak with a, 3-1, home win over Rio Hondo College, on Wednesday, October 18. The Mounties lost their first SCC North Division Match, since November of 2015, to cross town rival Pasadena City College, on October 11th. Mt. SAC, the defending SCC North champions, had won 12 conference matches in a row before the setback to PCC.
"We're still fighting for a conference championship so this was a very important win," freshman outside hitter Saipeti Fuiava said.
The Mounties, led by middle blocker Jordon Wilson (20 kills), improved to 9-11 overall and 3-1 in the SCC North with the 23-25, 25-10, 25-22, 25-20 win.
Middle blocker Shaianne Palos and outside hitter Sierra Lujan contributed with 7 and 6 kills respectively for the Mounties.
Mt. SAC had 51 kills as a team and 78 digs. Three Mounties were in double figures in digs – Fuiava, 22 digs, libero Malia Carr, 16 digs and Lujan (3 service aces), 11 digs.
Setter Brianda Valdez (1 kill, 8 digs) led the team with 20 assists and setter Leslie Perez provided 14 more.
In the first set, the Mounties took an early 3-0 lead, however the Roadrunners then outscored them, 9-3, to gain a 9-6 advantage that they never relinquished. With the score at 13-12, the Roadrunners reeled off seven consecutive points to take a 20-12 lead.
"The first set we weren't as aggressive and missed a lot of serves," Carr said.
In the second set, the game went back and forth producing six ties early in the set. With the score tied, 10-10, Carr's fast-paced serve took control of the game, serving out the set with 15 consecutive points and Wilson ending it with a kill for the 25-10 win.
"In the second set, we just had to get our serves over and be aggressive," Carr added.
In the third set, the Mounties trailed by three points at 16-13, but once again, Carr took control with her serve, scoring five straight points to take the lead. The Mounties held on to the lead and ended the set with a Lujan kill, winning 25-22.
In the fourth set where there were 12 ties, the Mounties took control with the score tied 20-20, scoring five consecutive points, including a game ending kill by Fuiava, to win 25-20.
"We still have a lot of freshman growing pains that we are going through," Mt. SAC Women's Volleyball coach Ali Carey-Oliver replied. "The things that we're successful at are things that they've been working really hard to get better at. This was a good win for us."
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.