Sophs Lead the Pack in Sweep of Cubs on Sophomore Night

by Cerwin D Haynes

Amidst a tough season, East Los Angeles College women's volleyball  - a freshman-heavy squad - has been able to look to their three sophomores for the type of leadership that next year's team will be expected to show exponentially. The second-year trio of Lib Alondra Cruz, SP Susan Santana and MH Samantha Arrizon looked to set the right tone tonight in their final regular season home game as ELAC hosted LA City College. 

The threesome indeed set the tone and ended up dominating the match with arguably their best collective performance of the season, as ELAC (5-17, 2-4) swept LACC (1-17, 0-6) in straight sets (25-8, 25-12, 25-15) for a happy Sophomore Night in the "E-rena". Arrizon had a match-high 17.0 points on the night, powered by her highest K% of the season with 13 kills on 17 attacks against only one error, good for a sizzling .708 clip. Santana had 11.0 points on the night, good for second best-overall: she also had her highest K% of the season as well, scoring eight kills in 19 attacks against one error for a solid .368 rate. Meanwhile, Cruz had a strong floor game: four service aces, 11 digs and two assists.

The Pack jumped on the Cubs from the get-go, setting a dominant tone in the first set by killing 13 out of 23 attacks with no attack errors while LA City could only muster six kills out of 20 attacks with four errors. Sets two and three saw ELAC go back forth a bit with City in the early part of the sets before finding their trekking to pull away comfortably. As a team, ELAC had a season-high K% of .410 while helping themselves on the serve, netting a season-high 20 aces.

HUSKY BITS

• Freshman OH Julie Benavides had her third-best scoring output of the season, killing six out of her 13 attacks with one error for a .385 percentage (7.0 points total). 
• Freshman S Erica Lovo had one of her best games setting up her attackers. She scored 29 assists along with a season-high five service aces (6.0 points total).
• The elder Arrizon also had five digs and four service aces, bolstering arguably her most dominant performance of the season.

UP NEXT: 

Despite celebrating a victorious Sophomore Night after the game, with the team showering Arrizon, Santana and Cruz with flowers and gifts, they'll be back to practice tomorrow. ELAC travels to Pasadena City College on Friday for a rematch with the Lancers. First serve at 6pm.