Tigers Volleyballers Give No. 6 Cypress All It Can Handle, but Lose, 3-0

RIVERSIDE -- Giving the No. 6-ranked team in the state all it could handle, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's volleyball squad lost, 3-0, to the Cypress College Chargers Wednesday evening (Oct. 15) in an Orange Empire Conference (OEC) match at RCC's legendary Arthur N. Wheelock Gymnasium.

Cypress (12-1, 3-1 OEC), which opened the season with nine straight victories to get ranked highly in the state poll, won by the set scores of 25-19, 25-21, 25-17, over Riverside (5-8, 2-2 OEC). In the all-time series, however, RCC leads, 32-27.

In the first set, the Chargers took the lead for good at 5-4 on a service ace by setter Zhane "Nae" Bender. Bender finished with a match-high 39 set assists. RCC closed to within 16-14, but then Cypress went on a 6-0 run, thanks, in part, to three kills by Charity Dennis as Cypress stretched its lead to 22-14.

In the second set, the Tigers took their latest lead, 13-12, on a Cypress attack error, but then the Chargers ran off five straight points (mostly on RCC errors) to lead, 17-13, and keep the Tigers at bay.

The third set saw RCC forge an 8-7 tie on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Euricce LeSure (Redlands / Redlands '13) and a kill by frosh setter Melissa Moe (Riverside / Poly '14) on a dump. A 10-10 tie soon became a 14-10 Cypress advantage as Jasmine Covington had two kills in the run.

Lindsey Ray led the Chargers with a match-high 16 kills and match-high 12 digs.

For RCC, sophomore outside hitter Naomi Tilford (Vista / Vista '11 / San Diego Mesa CC) had a team-high seven kills, while LeSure finished with six kills. Moe had a team-high 15 assists and sophomore setter Sarah Kelly (Riverside / John W. North '13) had 11 assists and a team-high nine digs.

In its next action on Friday, Oct. 17, Riverside visits the Orange Coast College Pirates, while Cypress will trek to Irvine Valley as each match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.

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