Volleyball: Win closes out regular season conference schedule

File Photo: Madison Borja had a season-high 20 kills against LA Harbor
File Photo: Madison Borja had a season-high 20 kills against LA Harbor

With fifth place in the South Coast Conference already locked down, the Cerritos College volleyball team concluded their regular season with a 23-25, 25-25-18, 25-23, 23-18 win over host Los Angeles Harbor College on Wednesday night. The Falcons (12-10, 8-8) will now compete in the conference tournament, which is set to begin on Friday. It has  been determined by the SCC tiebreaker rules that the Falcons will travel to El Camino College on Friday in their first round match. The Warriors are the #4-seed and Cerritos will get another shot at a team they have gone five sets with in both of their matches this year.

In the win over the Seahawks (8-15, 5-11), Cerritos only rotated the libero and did not play any reserves. As a result, the team had to battle though two of the sets, which included a loss in the first set, which required the team to regroup. They did just that and posted a pair of strong wins and fought through the third set to take control.

Freshman Jayda Harris-Amete (La Mirada HS), who has been the team's best offensive threat all season, received some help from another freshman who started seeing more and more playing time as the year progressed. Harris-Amete, who slammed home 18 kills in the win, saw Madison Borja (La Mirada HS) turn in her best match of the season, by far. Not only did she provide a season-high 20 kills, Borja recorded an amazing .429 hitting percentage and also added 13 digs, while Harris-Amete led the way with 14 digs.

Getting the ball to the duo was freshman setter Carissa Mendibles (Downey HS), who dished out 40 assists, while also contributing six digs, a pair of block assists and a kill. Continuing to provide a solid supporting role were freshmen Aiyana Sierra (La Mirada HS) and Maleah Gonzales (Schurr HS), who each had five kills and were both over .333 in hitting percentage. They also combined for five digs and a pair of block assists.