In their first match of the season, the Cerritos College volleyball team already faced the tense nature of close competition. On Friday, the Falcons suffered a 27-30, 29-31, 27-30 non-conference loss to host Citrus College. The team will look for their first win of the season on Monday when they travel to face Ventura College at 5:00 p.m. The Pirates are coached by former Falcon player Mandy Arnold, who played for current Cerritos head coach Teresa Ortega.

    In the loss to the Owls, each of the three games were tightly contested, but Citrus was able to score the points at the critical parts of the match, In the first game, the Falcons were up 23-22, but surrendered two straight points and were not able to regain the lead. Cerritos did pull out to an early lead in the second game, but fell victim to two straight service aces to see a 22-22 tie slip into a 26-22 deficit before they tied the match at 29-29. Citrus then scored the next two points to post a 31-29 win in the second game. The match was closed out in the same way it started, as the score wad tied 13 times before either team reached 20 points. After falling behind 25-22, the Falcons played to a 26-26 score until Citrus scored four of the next five points to record the win.

    Freshman Brittany Hayes (Artesia HS) led the team with 14 kills and only two errors, while sophomore Kristin Mendoza (St. Paul HS) added nine kills and two blocks. Sophomore Natalie Barajas (California HS) finished with eight kills and three service aces, while freshman Desiree Cortez (Elizabeth Learning Center HS) directed the offense with 24 assists. Playing a solid all-around game was freshman Julie Reich (La Mirada HS), who had three kills, four service aces, nine digs and seven assists.