“It won’t be nice, it won’t be nice,” was all that associate head volleyball Coach Gay Brockenbaugh could muster after the Cerritos College Falcons just defeated a team with barely enough players to put a squad on the court on Oct. 31, Halloween night.
“It was a win,” head coach Teresa Velasquez said of the Falcons second win over the Beavers of Los Angeles Trade Tech College.
Brockenbaugh declined further comment on the team’s effort.
In their first meeting on Oct. 5, the Falcons also swept the game 3-0.
LA Trade Tech had only 8 players dressed for the game, yet it played with heart and commitment the entire match.
Freshman setter Aniga Aiono, who is the team leader in assists, said, “It wasn’t our best game and I felt we had a lack of respect for the other team.”
Aiono along with teammates Gloria Chang, Yazmin Rios, Andrea Garret and Susan Suski, account for five of the top 19 servers in the South Coast Conference.
Add in defensive specialist Ashley Castro’s five service aces against LA Trade Tech and Cerritos College will in all likelihood have 6 top servers in the South Coast Conference.
Great individual statistics, but the win column still shows only 5 for the season.
LA Trade Tech while short in players did manage to play Cerritos College to an overtime loss the first set 24-26.
Outside Falcon hitter, Latia Peters said of the Beavers’ effort, “I had a lot of respect for the other team.”
“I loved how they were going for everything,” She said.
She led both teams with 14 kills for her efforts during the game.
Freshman middle hitter Chelsea James said, “I should have waited and punched it more.”
James had 3 blocks in addition to her contributing 4 kills for the offensive output.
Outside hitter Stephanie Ortiz continued to dig almost everything hit her way with saving 18 spikes keeping the defensive effort strong.
Cerritos College’s offensive player Susan Suski was absent again from the lineup, nursing an injured shoulder.
Earlier before the game, Suski shared that her shoulder was still sore, and thought she might be done for the season.
Commenting if indeed Suski is finished for the season, Velasquez said, “I don’t know, there’s still a couple more games. She’s working on it, her shoulder, so I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”
“(She’s) probably lost (for the season), but I don’t know,” said Velasquez of the early season kill leader in the South Coast Conference.
Velasquez reported that Suski is suffering from tendonitis and that the team is waiting for her to recover and hopefully rejoin the team with four games left in the season.
Suski isn’t the only one feeling the pain of a long season.
A win seemed to make all things better for she said she felt, better after the game and had a big smile on her face after the team notched its fifth victory of the year.
The next scheduled game for the Falcons is Friday Nov. 2, at El Camino College in Torrance with the first serve scheduled for 6 p.m.
