Thirtysomething--Harbor Ends Long Losing Streak v. Women's Volleyball

In 30 previous meetings between the Pasadena City College and Los Angeles Harbor women's volleyball teams, the result was always the same--a Lancers victory. On Wednesday night at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium, the 20-year losing drought ended for the unranked Seahawks as they upset state #18 PCC in five sets, 25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 17-25, 15-9.

The Lancers dropped to 16-6 overall and 7-4 in South Coast Conference action. Featuring its most talented roster in its history, Harbor went over the .500 mark at 10-9 and improved its SCC record to 4-7.

PCC had won four out of its previous five matches that went the distance this season, but a 2-0 sets hole to the Seahawks proved to be just too much to recover from for the Lancers. Pasadena can look back to the second set as its ultimate undoing. Trailing 15-11, the Lancers went on an 8-3 scoring run to take the lead. Nalani Young fired a kill that gave Pasadena set point at 24-23. But instead of tying the match, the Lancers lost sideout on an attack error. A Harbor kill and then an ace served by Laurel Campbell gave the Seahawks the extra-point set victory at 26-24. 

Pasadena came back with a sound attack in the third and fourth sets, hitting .308 in the third and .300 in the fourth. Looking to complete the comeback, PCC saw Harbor's offense reverse the momentum in the fifth set back the Seahawks way. The teams traded points with PCC taking a brief 7-6 lead on a kill by Erykah Wilson. But from that point on, Harbor landed attack after atttack. Harbor outside hitter Rohyn Huss ripped six kills in the set and then finished off the upset with her 17th kill of the match that capped an 8-3 rally. Harbor hit an amazing .562 in the fifth (10 kills, 16 attempts, one error) after hitting just .092 in the previous four sets combined. 

Unforced errors haunted the Lancers, including seven ballhandling mistakes and 12 errant serves that produced 19 Harbor points. For PCC, Young pounded 17 kills as well as also leading PCC defensively with 15 digs. Wilson hit .310 and powered 13 kills with 10 digs and three aces while middle blocker Paulina Lopez tallied seven kills (hit .375) and three blocks (two solo). Opposite Kaitlyn Karsten scored eight kills and two blocks, setter Nikki Hernandez totaled 45 assists, four aces, three kills and 12 digs, and libero Saku Yoshioka did a good job off the Lancers bench with 12 digs. Besides the play of Huss (who added 15 digs), Harbor had a big match by Lauryn Tham, who blasted 11 kills on a .588 efficiency. 

PCC next plays v. #12 El Camino, a team that nearly got upset itself by Rio Hondo, but pulled out a 5-set thriller, winning the fifth at 16-14. The Warriors remained undefeated in SCC play at 11-0 and are 16-4 overall. On Friday, Nov. 1, El Camino faces the Lancers at the HP Gym at 6 p.m.