Sophomore Nicole Vasquez slammed down a Rio Hondo College career-best 20 kills to help lead the Roadrunners to a marathon 3-2 win at East Los Angeles College on Wednesday.
It was a hard-fought battle for both squads. Rio Hondo took the opening set 25-18 before the Huskies won the next two 25-20, 25-22 to take a 2-1 lead. But the Roadrunners forced a winner-take-all fifth set after beating East LA 25-19 in the fourth. Rio Hondo came away with the South Coast Conference victory by winning Set 5 by a final score of 16-14.
Rio Hondo improved to 7-5 overall and picked up its first conference win after a pair of defeats last week to No. 11 state-ranked Pasadena City College and No. 20 Long Beach City College.
Vasquez compiled an impressive .341 hitting percentage in Tuesday's win as she made just five errors over 44 attempts. Vasquez added seven digs and an ace to her huge night.
Danielle Betancourt hit .381 in the contest, totaling nine kills with one error on 21 attempts. Evelyn Alferez added six kills while Ariel Garcia and Katherina O'Brien came off the bench to contribute five kills each.
Janine Coria served up six aces and also led Rio Hondo with 12 digs. Aliah Trujilo had a huge match, directing the offense with 56 assists to go along with 10 digs, and three aces. Stephanie Perez chipped in defensively with 10 digs as well.
The Roadrunners will face another big challenge in their next match as they host No. 13 state-ranked El Camino College on Friday (Oct. 4) at 6 p.m.