Tigers Sweep Santiago Canyon, 3-0, Wednesday; Visit Irvine Valley Friday
RIVERSIDE -- Winning its third consecutive match, the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's volleyball team swept the visiting Santiago Canyon College (SCC) Hawks, 3-0, by the set scores of 25-11, 25-19, 25-20, in an Orange Empire Conference (OEC) match Wednesday evening (Oct. 26) at legendary Arthur N. Wheelock Gymnasium.
Riverside City (14-5 overall, 8-2 in OEC) raced to leads of 5-0 and 7-1 in the first set, before stretching a 10-6 lead to 18-6. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Wells (Corona / Woodcrest Christian HS '15) had four kills and six digs in the 25-11 first-set win.
In the second set, RCC trailed, 0-4, but bounced back to lead, 8-7. Santiago Canyon (2-12, 0-10 OEC) forged an 18-18 tie before Wells chipped in another two kills down the stretch and the set-winning block solo, 25-19. Frosh outside hitter Kellsy Russell (Jurupa Valley / Patriot HS '15) had four kills in the second set.
The third set saw the Tigers snap a 6-6 tie with leads of 10-6, 12-7, and 15-9. After being tied at 16-16, the Tigers stretched a 17-16 lead to 23-17 as frosh libero Paula Romero (Riverside / Riverside Poly HS '14) had two service aces down the stretch.
Wells had a team-high nine kills and a co-team-high nine digs (along with Romero). Frosh setter MacKenzie Lunney (Corona / Riverspring Charter HS '16) started and had 13 set assists. Sophomore setter Sabrina Gonzaga (Moreno Valley / Citrus Hill HS '14) came on in relief and had 12 handouts.
Russell finished with six kills and sophomore outside hitter Marissa Vialpando (Moreno Valley / Riverside – Notre Dame HS '15) had five kills.
For Santiago Canyon, outside hitter Riley Hausner (Orange / Trabuco Hills HS) had a match-high 15 kills (with seven errors and 35 attempts) and was tasked with attempting to convert on some difficult sets. Setter Megan Hartjes (Orange / Trabuco Hills HS) had a match-high 26 assists. Outside hitter Bo Blakenship (Yorba Linda / Yorba Linda HS) had a match-high 12 digs..
Both teams return to action on Friday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. when RCC visits the Irvine Valley College (IVC) Lasers and SCC hosts the Orange Coast College Pirates.
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