Indoor Volleyball Defeats Cerro Coso in Season Opener, Falls to Grossmont

The Tigers looked to turn the page on last season as they started fresh in 2019 at the Grossmont Classic on Friday afternoon. Riverside came uout hot by defeating Cerro Coso in straights sets. They continued on in game two and fell to Grossmont in three sets.

Riverside proved the ability to put away close sets early. The first set saw a tight, 26-24 victory followed by a 25-20 win. They pulled away in the third set with a 25-13 triumph.

Many new faces graced the hardwood for the Tigers, but a familiar face picked up right where she left off and dominated the match. Sophomore outside Vashti Elias-Romero paced her squad on both ends with seven kills and 10 digs. The digs mark acted as a team high, while sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Urban matched her in kills.

Elias-Romero was efficient in her approach as seen in a.250 hitting percentage. She added one service ace as well. Freshman outside Josephine Sua earned the start in her first collegiate contest and recorded three service aces to go along with four kills and nine digs.

Sophomore defensive specialist Sadie Arganda was effective in the serving game with for aces while adding nine digs and a pair of assists. The setting duties were split between freshman Hailey Gray and sophomore Madison Hernandez. Gray led the way with 11 assists, while Hernandez backed her with eight. Gray received the nod as the starting setter.

Grossmont was too tough to handle for Riverside in their second match of the season as they fell in three-straight sets. They improved in the third set by only losing by four points. Freshman middle Amara Hill and Elias-Romero earned four kills each, while Sua recorded four digs. Freshman setter Molly Watson dunked in three aces.

Riverside (1-1) will host the Long Beach City College Viking for their home opener on Wednesday, September 4 at 5 p.m.