First-Place Battle In Women's Volleyball Goes To Mt. SAC

The Pasadena City College women's volleyball team had thoughts of first place in its heads, leading 2-0 in sets early on against then state No. 17-ranked (now 19) Mt. San Antonio on Friday. Unfortunately for the unranked Lancers, the host Mounties mounted a comeback and took over sole possession of first in the South Coast Conference North Division with a 21-25, 21-25, 25-9, 25-14, 15-9.

PCC (10-6 overall, 3-1 in SCC) saw a 6-match win streak end while Mt. SAC improved to 12-1 and 4-0 atop the division after one round of conference play.

For the Lancers, Rayleen Rivera pounded 19 kills and made 14 digs while Chyna Peeler added six kills and five solo blocks. Paige Clingaman tacked on nine kills, Monica Hernandez had 10 digs and three aces, and Michelle Boyd defended 11 digs. 

"We've had the best start to a match all year," said PCC head coach Mike Terrill. "We were the aggressor the first two sets, but Mt. SAC really turned it around and put a ton of pressure on us in the last three sets. They adjusted their plan and we just didn't respond well. I am proud about our team talk after the match, and changes we can make moving forward. The team wants to commit to a consistent and competitive practice environment so we can play free and trust each other when it counts."

PCC ended up with 32 attack errors and 14 on serves (nine aces). Terrill talked about unforced errors in general.

"We can cut them down, and that's one of our goals in gaining consistency in our attack. I'm not concerned about our serving mistakes because we want to be aggressive in that area. One big thing is that we know we are capable of better play, and still we were oh so close to winning against a very good team."

[Photo--Lancers' setter Emily Leung is averaging 6.7 assists this season, image by Richard Quinton.]