ARC goes to great heights in defeating LA Mission in women's volleyball quarterfinals #3
N2 American River (28-4) 3, S3 LA Mission (27-5) 1, 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21
WALNUT -- There was no coincidence why American River College is here for a sixth straight apperance at the 3C2A State Women's Volleyball Championship. The Beavers have height and that was a factor in a heavy block that was too much for LA Mission's attack in a 4-set quarterfinals #3 victory on Friday evening.
ARC received another sterling performance by 5-foot-11 Morgan Castaneda, who rifled 21 kills (hit .292) with 10 digs and three blocks, but the Beavers also relied on the blocking and net talents of 6-1 Celestine Hayes (three kills, five blocks), 6-foot Mallory Kuehl (five kills in only six attacks and six blocks), 5-11 Kyla Powell, who chipped in seven kills and two blocks, and 5-10 Amiah Cornejo, who contributed five kills and served three aces off the ARC bench.
"Our middle blockers did a great job of interfering and disrupting LA Mission's middles," Lowden said. "We feel we are at our best when our serving and blocking are reciprocal and working together. We struggled against LA Mission's dig as they are tough defensively. Morgan was her usual Morgan doing Morgan things."
Making its first trip to state in the 11-year history of the Eagles program, 5-10 Oluwatoyin Sunday scored 18 kills with three blocks while Rio Sandaiji added 12 kills and 13 digs. Lilian Pisarcyk, like ARC's big middles imposing at 6-3 in height, collected four kills and four blocks. Setter Taylor Boone was solid with 41 assists, eight digs, two kills and two aces and Tawnie Ohrt had seven kills.
"We definitely made mistakes early and offensively couldn't put pressure on them," said LA Mission head coach Nabil Mardini. "We started to serve better and that's how we were able to come back in the third set. In the end, American River just had more weapons than we had."
Consecutive blocks by ARC helped it take a 19-18 lead in the first set. A Cady Hatch kill capped that 5-point win. In the second set, American River jumped ahead 20-10 and ultimately took a 2-0 sets lead on a Castaneda blast. In the third, LA Mission found its scrappy game, taking a 12-8 lead on of Sophia Vazquez's three aces. The Eagles led 24-19 on a Sunday kill, but ARC bounced back with four striaght points capped on a Hatch dump kill. Sunday though delivered a kill for Mission's set win.
In the fourth set, American River pulled ahead 17-13, and then 23-19 on an ace by Cornejo. Castaneda fittingly used her power hitting skills to drive home match point.
ARC plays the winner of the S1 Long Beach City v. N4 Feather River match in the semifinals on Saturday.
Release by Robert Lewis, CCCWVCA/3C2A State Tournament SID
