El Camino aces first-round playoff test
By Dave Thorpe, Daily Breeze
Darlene Lee does a little of everything for the El Camino College women's volleyball team, and her talents were on full display in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.
Lee had 12 kills, six assists, six digs, three blocks and two aces as No. 4-seeded El Camino defeated No. 13 Chaffey 25-13, 25-14, 25-15 on Tuesday night at El Camino College.
El Camino (23-2) hosts a familiar foe in the second round on Saturday at 6 p.m. — No. 5-seeded Golden West, the team that eliminated the Warriors in the second round last year.
The sophomores on this year's team remember the loss and will use it as motivation.
"It was tough last year," Lee said. "We really wanted to beat them. So we really wanted this win tonight so we could move on and play them."
The revenge factor could be in play on Saturday, which also could be El Camino's last home match with No. 1-seeded Irvine Valley a probable third-round matchup.
"I think so," El Camino coach Le Valley Pattison said. "Especially with it being our last home match, hopefully we end it here with a win."
Lee opened the first set against Chaffey (20-8) with a kill, and ended it with a kill. Chaffey pulled as close as 15-10 in the first set, but El Camino answered with a kill from Nickeisha Williams and an ace and a kill by Layne Thompson. Three Kim Haney kills led to the set-winner by Lee.
"We had high energy and good motivation today, we never stopped pushing," Lee said.
Chaffey pulled as close as 15-12 in the second set, then a kill by Nicole Echeverri started El Camino on a 10-2 run to end the set.
Chaffey never made it close in the third set, when El Camino took a 5-0 lead on the strength of two kills by Lee, one by Echeverri and an ace by setter Sadie Franker (39 assists).
Echeverri had 13 kills and Williams had 11 kills for El Camino, which appears to be hitting on all cylinders at the right time.
"We ran a balanced attack and hit at a high percentage," Pattison said. "Every position was putting the ball away."
Lee was sharp in all aspects of the game.
"She was great, all the little things, coming in from the back with crazy sets and putting balls away," Pattison said.
Lee said it's a tight-knit group going into the Golden West rematch.
"We're very comfortable with each other and trust each other really well," Lee said. "We just have to keep playing and see where we go."
Photo by Steve McCrank/Daily Breeze