Clovis Crush rally to win first volleyball matches in program history

RIDGECREST – Clovis Community College head coach Mark Rosen launched the Crush women's volleyball program by winning both its matches on opening day at Cerro Coso College on Wednesday.

The Crush won its historic first two matches in dramatic fashion, rallying to defeat both host Cerro Coso and Rio Hondo College in five sets.

In its inaugural match, the Crush erased a 2-1 deficit to beat Cerro Coso 25-9, 18-25, 17-25, 25-11, 15-12. The squad found itself in another hole against Rio Hondo, falling behind 2-0, but once again stormed back for the impressive 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 15-12 win.

"It was a great start for the program to get two big wins against quality opponents," said Rosen, the long-time University of Michigan head coach before taking the Crush position.

"Winning back-to-back, five-set matches showed a lot of grit from the young Clovis crush team," he added.

Leaders for the day were Juliana Sanchez with 29 kills and Lyric Garcia with 23 kills over the two matches. Freshman setter Ashley Robles paced the offense with 44 assists. Defensive standout was freshman libero Olivia LeBeau who totaled 50 digs over today's action.

The Crush, now 2-0 overall, are back in action on Friday (Aug. 29) when the squad travels to Lemoore for a pair of non-conference matches. Clovis is scheduled to take on Santa Rosa Junior College at 2 p.m. and faces Central Valley Conference foe Lemoore College at 4 p.m.

(Chris Ruiz, Central Valley Conference)