Until Tuesday night, it had been 19 years since the Cerritos College volleyball team earned a playoff victory. The #6-seeded Falcons (19-3) put an end to that with a 25-21, 25-23, 25-17 win over #11-seeded Grossmont College (19-9). Coupled with #14-seeded San Bernardino Valley College upsetting #3-seed Moorpark College in four sets, Cerritos will now host the Wolverines at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of the match will advance to the 3C2A State Championships, which will take place at Mt. San Antonio College.

Back on September 18, the Falcons defeated San Bernardino Valley, 25-12, 25-20, 25-21.

In defeating the Griffins, Cerritos played a solid defensive match, coupled with a strong net presence. The teams were knotted at 8-8 in the first set until the Falcons slowly started to open up a lead they would not relinquish. Three consecutive attack errors by Grossmont aided Cerritos in opening up an 18-11 lead. Sophomore Jasmine Soto-Castro (Schurr HS) slammed home a kill to put it at set point, with another attack error earning the Falcons the first set.

The key to the match came in the second set, as Grossmont trailed 20-16 and came back out of a timeout with four consecutive points to draw even. The two teams traded points until 23-23 when a service error by the Griffins Daisy Ekeya gave the Falcons a 24-23 lead. Sophomore Sydney May (Los Alamitos HS/UC Santa Cruz) gave Cerritos a 2-0 lead in sets with a service ace.

A tight third set was sitting at 9-9 until three attack errors and a kill from sophomore Brisa Cortez (Schurr HS) put the Falcons in front, 13-9. Leading 15-12, Cerritos ran off seven consecutive points, which included a kill from sophomore setter Leeya Rubio (Schur HS) and a service ace from sophomore Monserrat Rodriguez (Gahr HS/Long Beach City College). Sophomore Lillianna Peterson (California HS) finished off the match with a kill.

May led the team with 13 kills and a .367 hitting percentage to go along with her 17 assists, four block assists and two service aces. Peterson added 10 kills with a .381 hitting percentage, while Rodriguez contributed eight kills and eight digs. Sophomore Priscilla Castillo (Schurr HS) led the back row with 17 digs, while Soto-Castro finished with four kills and 10 digs. Of her three digs on the night for Cortez, one of them came with her foot, as she kept a rally going when she kicked a kill attempt to help the Falcons record a point.

Photos by Daryl Peterson