On all cylinders of late, the state #10-ranked Pasadena City College women's volleyball team is utilizing its entire roster and welcomed back top middle blocker Delaney Blied to the lineup in the Lancers' third straight sweep, 25-12, 25-18, 25-16, over visting Cerritos College on Friday afternoon.
The Lancers (9-3 record) continue their prime home cooking, now 7-1 in matches played at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium. Seven of the team's victories this year have come in the minimum three sets.
Blied, a State Player of the Week earlier in the month, missed three contests due to injury, but didn't miss a beat v. Cerritos as she slammed three kills and made four blocks. Starting outside hitter Bobbie Torres ripped eight kills (hit .467), added eight digs and served two aces. Starting opposite Izzy Taylor added seven kills (hit .636 in 11 swings) while setter Melissa Monterroza tallied 11 assists, seven digs and landed three of the team's 10 aces.
Starting middle hitter Savannah Curtis led a crew of 4-kill performances with opposite Mahrie Bedjakian (plus three blocks), OH Sabiya Esquivel (five digs), and MB Machijah Harville. Reserve setter JanetMarie Reyes continued to shine with a double-double on 11 set assists and 10 digs while steady starting libero Juyeon Lee made 11 digs and dished out eight assists.
Among the 18 Lancers who saw action, Julianna Wilson set four assists and made three digs while Arpa Khechadoorian and Isabel De La Pena each served an ace.
On the road Wednesday night, PCC scored a resounding 3-set win over Chaffey, 25-9, 25-10, 25-6, as starting OH Payton Scott nearly had a perfect night, destroying 10 kills in 11 attempts (one error, .818 efficiency). Harville (plus three blocks), Bedjakian and Esquivel each scored five kills.
Diana Magallon twirled five aces, Reyes had 15 assists and three dump kills, Lee made 13 digs and two aces, and Brianna Galvan added two kills and a solo block. The Lancers hit .470 overall.
PCC head coach Mike Terrill said: "The best part of late is we are getting so many of our women playing time, which is a by-product of our starters getting us off to good starts to matches. The team morale is high and getting everyone involved is something our coaching staff has stressed. We played some talented, top-ranked teams in non-conference play, but now we are at a spot in the schedule that we think will allow us to keep rotating players, especially our freshmen, to get valuable game experience."
Pasadena started the crossover portion of the South Coast Conference schedule (matches that do not count toward SCC standings) v. Cerritos and that continues on Wednesday, Sept. 24 when the Lancers host El Camino College in a 6 p.m. contest.
PCC begins the 8-match, SCC North Division race for a title on Wednesday, Oct. 1 when it hosts Los Angeles City College.