The Cerritos College volleyball team found themselves facing one of the toughest teams in the state on Friday night, and the end result was a three game sweep by El Camino College in a South Coast Conference match. The Falcons (3-15 overall, 3-4 SCC) were defeated by the Warriors (17-1, 6-0), 20-30, 16-30, 15-30. Next up for the team will be a road game against Pasadena City at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

    In addition to their superior height advantage over the Falcons, El Camino was also effective with their serve and dinks that help net them points in bunches. In the first two games, Cerritos made their move to try and stay close, but surrendered multiple points at a time and couldn’t recover. In the first game, the team received four kills from freshman Julie Reich (La Mirada HS), whose kills helped stop to Warrior rallies. Trailing just 8-7 in the first game, the Warriors scored the next eight points before a Reich kill ended that run, while she also had one early on in the match.

    Reich collected five more in the second game, but the team also received help from freshman Brittany Hayes (Artesia HS), who picked up two of her five kills early on in the second game. Sophomore libero Vanessa Mojica (Whittier HS) did her best to try and handle the hard hitting of Kerry O’Brien, Marcella Hernandez and Ashley Hardy, who all hit very hard. Mojica finished with a team-high 15 digs, while Reich and freshman Chrystal Gonzalez (Santa Fe HS) had seven each.

    On the night, Hayes and Reich each finished with nine kills, while sophomore Kristin Mendoza (St. Paul HS) added five. The Falcons did not have any success at the net and failed to record a block, while they had just one service ace. Freshman setter Desiree Cortez (Elizabeth Learning Center HS) dished off 24 assists.