Pierce Host With Most In Sweep Over Sierra
Pierce College is enjoying the moment as the host of the 2016 CCCAA State Women's Volleyball Championship. The South No. 2 seeded-Brahmas then showed home fans a strong brand of play in sweeping North No. 3 Sierra, 25-13, 25-11, 25-20, in a quarterfinals match Saturday afternoon.
Pierce College is enjoying the moment as the host of the 2016 CCCAA State Women's Volleyball Championship. The South No. 2 seeded-Brahmas then showed home fans a strong brand of play in sweeping North No. 3 Sierra, 25-13, 25-11, 25-20, in a quarterfinals match Saturday afternoon.
"We won the serving and passing battle," said Pierce head coach Nabil Mardini. "This is how you want your team to play on this type of stage. We made few errors and Peyton Moyles did a great job of distributing the ball to our hitters Cassidy Rosso and Whitley Doss. We hit the ball at a near .400 clip and you can't get much better than that. It was important to win a match this way to give us more rest for our semifinal tonight."
Pierce (29-3) never was in trouble against the Wolverines (22-6), a team that won the Big 8 Conference title and two regional playoffs to reach the state tourney. Rosso hit .357 with 14 kills and served three aces while Doss delivered 10 kills (.364) and two solo blocks. Cairo Harrell added eight kills in just 12 attempts (.583). Moyles tallied 33 assists and nine digs. Pierce totaled eight team blocks, seven aces, and hit .376 as a team with only eight attack errors. Kamela Lovick added 16 digs on defense.
Meanwhile, Sierra struggled to get its offense going, finishing with just 24 overall kills and 18 attack errors. Grace Lemmo was limited to a team-high five kills. Ally Wubben had 16 assists with four kills and seven digs. Ryan Blackwood led all defenders with 18 digs.
After Pierce breezed through the first two sets, Sierra played better in the third game that featured eight ties and five lead changes. The Brahmas finally pulled away with a 7-1 run for an 18-12 lead. A Rosso kill gave Pierce match point and the sweep.
The Brahmas play the winner of North No. 1 Cabrillo and South No. 4 El Camino in a semifinal at 7 p.m. this evening.
