Riverside Posts 3-1 Win Over Orange Coast Wednesday; Tigers Host Golden West Friday
RIVERSIDE -– Winning its fifth conference match in as many starts this season, the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers topped the visiting Orange Coast College (OCC) Pirates, 3-1, in an Orange Empire Conference (OEC) match Wednesday evening (Oct. 5) at legendary Arthur N. Wheelock Gymnasium.
Riverside City (11-3 overall, 5-0 in OEC) won its third consecutive match against OCC, including last season's sweep of the Pirates. Wednesday's set scores were 25-14, 18-25, 25-14, 25-13.
In the first set, RCC turned a 0-1 deficit into a 5-1 lead and stretched it to 11-5 and 19-11 before six OCC attack errors the rest of the way helped RCC to the 25-14 win.
The second set saw the Pirates hit their stride, if only for the only time during the match. After hitting minus-.071 (eight kills, 11 attack errors) in the first set, OCC hit .225 (14 kills, five errors) to win, 25-18. Conversely, RCC hit only .067.
Riverside bounced back in the third and fourth sets, hitting .184 (11 kills) and .417 (18 kills), respectively, to win, 25-14, and 25-13.
RCC sophomore outside hitter Marissa Vialpando (Moreno Valley / Riverside – Notre Dame HS '15) -- who is pictured -- led the way with a match-high 20 kills and a team-high 23 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Wells (Corona / Woodcrest Christian HS '15) had 15 kills and 16 digs.
Riverside frosh libero Paula Romero (Riverside / Riverside Poly HS '14) had 18 digs and sophomore setter Sabrina Gonzaga (Perris / Citrus Hill HS '14) had a match-high 40 set assists.
For Orange Coast (7-8 overall, 2-3 OEC), frosh middle blocker Funaki Hansen (Century HS) had a team-high ten kills, sophomore setter Enjelica Glattli (Woodbridge HS) had 25 assists and frosh libero Sierra Lim (Kaiser [HI} HS) had 25 digs.
Both teams return to action on Friday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m. when RCC hosts the Golden West College (GWC) Rustlers and OCC hosts the Saddleback College Gauchos.
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