The Rio Hondo women’s volleyball earned two strong conference wins against Cerritos College and LA Trade-Tech College, but struggled against El Camino and ended last week with a tie against Long Beach City College. The Roadrunners are now 10-7-1 on the season and 2-2 in conference play.

The Roadrunners started the evening with a commanding first set as they beat Cerritos 25-16. It was the same story for the second game as the final score was also 25-16. During the third game, Cerritos did their best to make things interesting as they tied it all up at 24. Though, Rio Hondo did not panic and closed out the game ending with a final score of 26-24.

“Haley Brownwood played amazing, she had at least five aces,” said Coach Esko, “Rachel Bustillos came in off the bench just to serve and play some defense and I think she tallied up at least four aces.”

The Roadrunners also received solid play from Bree Newton as she had some nice hits.

“Heading into next match we really need to work on our defense at the net, we were really off with our blocking,” added Coach Esko, “We’re a really good defensive team and we had moments tonight where we didn’t capitalize like we should’ve.”

Erika Mendoza led the offense with 8 kills, Jacqueline Chaidez had 6 digs.

Coming off a very strong performance against Cerritos the Roadrunners would travel to El Camino College to face the number one team in the South section of the South Coast Conference. Rio Hondo was swept losing the first game 25-20, then lost the 25-17 and lost the third game 25-16 struggling to keep the game competitive.

Tanya Metchkoff had 11 aces and Michelle Rosas added 7 kills.

The Roadrunners then traveled to LA Trade-Tech in downtown Los Angeles for another South Coast Conference Crossover. Rio Hondo started off strong with a 25-14 win for the first game and they would never look back. The Roadrunners played with the same confidence in the second game leading to a 25-16 win and the story was the same for the third game winning 25-20. The Roadrunners would sweep LA Trade-Tech building momentum into a competitive game against Long Beach City College.

Michelle Rosas had 6 kills and Tanya Metchkoff had 13 aces.

Rio Hondo hosted the Long Beach City College Vikings last Friday. It was a competitive game throughout that ultimately ended in the Roadrunners’ first tie of the season.

Haley Brownwood added 16 aces, while Paula Alferez and Michelle Rosas both had 7 kills.                                    

The Roadrunners are now in 3rd place at 2-2 in the North Section of the South Coast Conference. Undefeated Mt. SAC is in first at 4-0 and  Pasadena City is in second at 3-1. With four more North conference games, the window is still open for Rio Hondo to make a run at first place in the conference.