ELAC women’s volleyball opens with three straight wins

IMPERIAL VALLEY, Calif. — The East Los Angeles College Huskies won three games in the Imperial Valley Fall Classic including their first shutout win of the season enroute to the team tourney title.

ELAC Wins 3-0 vs. Southwestern College

The women’s volleyball team opened the 2018-19 season with a 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-11) win. ELAC volleyball coach Elliott Walker played the entire team.

ELAC outside hitter sophomore Yicel Quintero (South Gate High School) led the Huskies with 9 kills, while sophomore middle hitter Kayla Dickerson (Bell Gardens HS) had 7 kills. Freshman outside hitter Arianna Gomez (California HS) smashed 6 kills on 9 attacks for a .556 hitting percentage.

Freshman setter Samantha Villareal (Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary HS) notched a game-high 21 assists and had a service-aces. Two Huskies led the defense, sophomore libero Victoria Trejo-Garcia (Downey HS) with 11 digs and Dickerson with a team-high 2 blocked shots. The Huskies had a clip of .450 percent.

ELAC wins 3-2 over Cuyamaca College

ELAC stopped Cuyamaca’s (3-1) three-game win streak with an exciting come-from-behind match win, 3-2 (25-10, 19-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-11).

After the Huskies won a commanding first-set 25-10 win, Cuyamaca rallied with two set wins, 25-19 and 25-20. ELAC re-regained the momentum with a 25-19 fourth set victory and continued with an early fifth set lead enroute on a 15-11 final set win.

In the defensive battle, ELAC outhit Cuyamaca with a clip of .193 to .172. Trejo hit a career-high 24 digs while Cuyamaca’s Diamond Hollis dug for a game-high 27. Dickerson hit a game-high three blocked shots.

Villareal had 28 assists helping Walton pound 16 kills on 34 attacks (.324 clip). Quintero powered three service aces.

ELAC defeats host Imperial Valley 3-1

ELAC won 3-1 (16-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-20). Imperial Valley, backed by a tremendous offense and the loud home crowd, won the first set over a stunned Huskies team 25-16. ELAC turned on the defense and hit better from all over the court to end the match with three straight set-wins.

Walton, a force at the net, blasted 16 kills from 33 attacks at a clip of .394. Right side hitter sophomore Rachel Cruz (Garfield HS) had a game-high 23 assists while Trejo-Garcia added to the offensive force with 4 service aces.

On defense, three Huskies jumped, took dives and moved to get 48 of ELAC’s 67 digs. Quintero and freshman outside hitter Nikky Sotelo (Bell HS) had 35 digs for the Huskies, 18 and 17, respectively. Trejo-Garcia had 13.

Three-game offensive totals for ELAC included a team high 37 kills from Walton at a clip of .429, 24 kills from Dickerson and 23 from Quintero. Villareal had 9 service aces, Trejo-Garcia had 7 and Quintero totaled six.

Villareal had a team high 59 assists and Cruz had 45. Trejo-Garcia led the defense with 48 digs, Sotelo added 39 and Quintero had 36. Dickerson blocked four shots.

UP NEXT

The Huskies meet highly regarded College of the Desert (2-1), Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 5:30 p.m.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index and ELAC Huskies Athletics on Facebook.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia