After battling through some of the toughest competition in Southern California, the Cerritos College volleyball team came out on top with a 25-14, 25-13, 25-19 non-conference win over San Bernardino Valley College. The Falcons (1-11) resume South Coast Conference play on Friday when they travel to Pasadena City to take on the #12-ranked Lancers.

The Falcons raced out to a quick 8-2 lead in the first set before the Wolverines (0-14) closed the score to 9-7. Kills by Kaydence Portillo (Bell Gardens HS) and Sonye Garcia (Paramount HS), sandwiched between a service ace from Carissa Mendibles (Downey HS) and block assists from Portillo and Garcia enabled Cerritos to extend their lead to 14-7. With the first set just three points away, the team received a kill from Abby Gutierrez (Downey HS) before Mendibles served up another ace. Portillo closed out the set with a kill.

Riding the momentum of taking the first set, Cerritos started to pull away after holding an 11-10 advantage. A trio of service aces from Gutierrez, along with four attack errors from San Bernardino Valley extended the Falcons lead to 19-10. Sierra then provided three of the final six points in the set with kills to give the Falcons a commanding 2-0 lead in sets.

In the third set, it was Breanna Lizarraga (Paramount HS) who gave the team an early 5-0 with four straight service aces. A 10-point lead (16-6) started to slip away, as the Wolverines closed the score to 19-16 in favor of Cerritos. But a kill and service ace from Sierra drew the team closer to the win, with kills from Gutierrez and Portillo and an attack error completing the sweep.

Sierra led the team with 12 kills, while Portillo produced seven kills with just one attack error. The balanced attack also included six kills from Garcia, five from Kira Magdaleno (Artesia HS) and four from Gutierrez, who also had nine digs and six aces. Lizarraga led the back row with 19 digs and also added five aces and five assists with Mendibles dishing out 27 assists in the win.