Santa Monica Knocks Out Women's Volleyball In Regional Playoff

For the eighth straight season, the Pasadena City College women's volleyball team reached the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The #12-seeded Lancers though are still trying to break through the hurdle of reaching the regional Round 3 finals after a disappointing 3-set loss at #5 Santa Monica, 25-23, 25-21, 25-21, in Round 2 on Tuesday night.

The Lancers closed the '25 season at 19-7 overall, losing to a Corsairs team (25-4) they defeated in five sets early in the season. 

Ranked #14 in the final regular season State Top 25, PCC was tied 18-18 in the opening set and held a 20-18 lead in set 2 and a 21-18 advantage in the third game only to see state #7 SMC prevail in all three. 

In the program's 8-year postseason run under head coach Mike Terrill, the Lancers are 3-8 in playoff matches, winning only once in their last five appearances going back to 2021 when PCC set a state record for the most victories to win a conference title--an 18-0 run to the South Conference, 9-team championship. That team was seeded #2 and was then upset by College of the Canyons in a sweep that ended a school-record tying 21-match win streak (also tied PCC record for most victories in a year-23). 

Last year, the Lancers were beaten by Saddleback in Round 1 and in 2023 after a Round 1 victory over San Bernardino Valley, they were defeated by Irvine Valley in Round 2. In 2022, the Lancers nearly upset Grossmont (a state #6-ranked team) but fell in five sets in Round 1. 

Against Santa Monica, the Lancers tied the opening set at 18-18 on an ace by JanetMarie Reyes. SMC then went on a 5-0 run before PCC cut it to 23-22. All-State player Nicole Lankton recorded a block for set point to give the Corsairs a 1-0 lead.

In the second set, Pasadena attacked well at a .346 hitting clip and SCC Freshman of the Year Bobbie Torres blasted eight kills, including a point that made it 20-18 for the Lancers. Savannah Wooley then scored two kills during a 7-1 run that took the air out of the Lancers and gave SMC a 2-0 sets lead. 

In the final set, the teams traded 11 ties before PCC grabbed a 21-18 advantage on an Izzy Taylor kill and an opponent attack error. But the theme of the match was Santa Monica's late pushback as the Corsairs scored the contest's final seven consecutive points capped by another Lankton block.

Overall, Torres led PCC with a match-high 12 kills (hit .280), Leah Millage tallied seven kills, Delaney Blied scored five, and Taylor had four. Juyeon Lee contributed eight digs, five set assists and two aces while Julianna Wilson distributed 10 assists and Reyes nine (and seven digs). 

Lee closed her 2-year PCC career at libero with 503 digs and 86 aces. Torres led PCC in kills with 220 (2.97 average) and was one of the team's best defenders at a 2.7 digs per set average. 

PCC has not reached the regional finals (SoCal final eight) since the playoff format changed in 2016. In 2012, the Lancers won two playoff matches but were beaten in the regional final four by LA Pierce. PCC would have made it to the state tournament that year in the current format. The last Lancers team to reach the state tourney was the 1995 squad, which finished a historical best third place under PCC Hall of Famer and then head coach Lori Jepsen.