Volleyball Digs Deep in Win over Cuyamaca

With the match knotted up at one set apiece entering into the third set, it took some major resilience from the Riverside City College indoor volleyball team to pull off a victory. Despite facing an early seven-point deficit in the third quarter, the Tigers began to string together quality play and craft a momentum-shifting comeback. They reigned supreme in the third set eventually leading to a 3-1 match victory over the Cuyamaca College Coyotes.

Riverside struggled in an opening set loss (18-25) as seen in six errors and a hitting percentage of just .027. However, they pulled themselves together and won the following three sets by the final scores of 25-19, 25-23, and 25-17.

The third set was an exciting event as Riverside found themselves in a 10-3 hole and slowly worked to claw their way out. Cuyamaca helped the Tigers with two-straight errors, but Riverside gave one back with an error of their own.

However, kills from freshman outside Vashti Elias-Romero, sophomore middle Rozarya Barrett, and sophomore outside Marcella Rodriguez kept them alive.

Elias-Romero put the offense on her back down the stretch with two more kills to bring them within three. Following two more errors from the Coyotes, Elias-Romero rose up and hammered home the equalizer to bring the score to 20-all.

Sophomore middle Lauren Dunmore chipped in a kill down the stretch, backed by the set-winning dagger from Elias-Romero to grab the set and the 2-1 advantage. The Tigers went on to dominate the third set with ease.

Elias-Romero has been shinning bright in the Tiger's pack as she paced her team with nine kills. She snapped her three-game double-digit kill streak tonight, but has recorded at least four kills in every game this season. She added 11 digs and two services aces as well.

Freshman Jasmine Urban has complimented her fellow freshman nicely as she recorded eight kills on the night. She, too, has solidified herself as a valuable weapon on offense. The sophomore tandem of Rodriguez and Dunmore each recorded eight kills.

Sophomore setter Taylor Gardner and freshman setter Robyn Collier shared the setting duties tonight with Gardner recording a team-high 21 assists. Collier followed with 14, while sophomore libero Natalie Escher cashed in four. Escher paced the squad with 16 digs.

The Tigers (5-3) continue their four-game home stint this Friday, September 14 with a showdown against Cerritos College at 5 p.m.