In the past week, Falcon volleyball has had the opportunity to learn a lot about its team and build upon those lessons as each game passes.

A week ago, the team traveled to Mt. San Antonio College, where it had the opportunity to tie for third place in conference play with the Mounties but after playing a strong and competitive first match, Cerritos folded and showed their lack of experience.

The Falcons won that first match, 25-13, but ended up being swept the rest of the game, resulting in the second loss in a row for Cerritos.

“That loss to Mt. San Antonio sent a strong message to our team,” stated freshman Sarah Rodriguez who finished Friday night’s game against LA City with five kills.

The Falcons swept LA City with scores of 25-17, 25-6, and 25-8 to become 5-3 in conference play and an overall record of 8-5.

In that Mt. SAC game last Wednesday, Cerritos showed strong defense and blocking at the net, which has been a concern for coach Teresa Velazquez-Ortega all of this season as well as the last season.

“We played strong and confident in that first match but our energy level dropped and we weren’t able to regain that focus,” Ortega said.

However, Friday’s game proved to be a lesson well-learned as the Falcons did not let up on LA City, serving the ball well, staying aggressive and staying strong defensively.

Freshman Hannah Johnson had a career-high seven service aces and sophomore Sarah Naranjo tallied 11 kills in the LA City game.

Naranjo has been a bright spot for the Falcons this season and she tallied 20 kills and 19 digs in the Mt. SAC loss as well.

Freshman Johanna Tope made note that the team’s energy and aggressiveness are the strongest characteristics for the Falcons but she also said that improvements the team must make start with serving as well as blocking.

Tope said, “Mt SAC just challenged us much more.”

Cerritos volleyball will look to improve upon its play when the team travels to LA Trade Tech Wednesday.

On Sept. 28, Cerritos handled Trade Tech fairly easily and was able to rest its starters the majority of the game.