It wasn't the start Rio Hondo College head coach Teddi Esko was hoping for, but the Roadrunners were competitive throughout in a pair of opening day-losses at Orange Coast College. Rio Hondo fell 3-1 to host OCC before dropping a 3-0 match to Santa Monica College.
Against the OCC Pirates, Rio Hondo lost the opening set 25-13 but got some early match butterflies out of the way to take the second 25-21. Orange Coast responded by winning out the next two sets, securing the match with 25-13 and 25-21 victories.
Hitting errors plagued the Roadrunners against the Pirates as Rio Hondo totaled 31 in the contest. The Roadrunners totaled 28 kills, getting a team-high six from Ariel Garcia. Faith Lee, Desteny Hernandez, and Nadine Oronoz all had five kills while Alina Velo added four.
The Roadrunners played well on defense, racking up 89 digs, including 19 from Faith Wada and 18 from Oronoz. Daniela Sanchez and Lee added 15 digs. Wada also led Rio Hondo with eight assists and a pair of aces.
Despite the 3-0 score, the Roadrunners played a much closer match than the final score against Santa Monica would indicate. Rio Hondo lost by scores of 25-23, 25-22, and 25-23.
Rio Hondo cut back on the errors in its second match, committing 19 against the Corsairs while collecting 33 kills. Garcia once again paced the offense with nine kills while Oronoz had nine and Lee posted eight kills.
Wada totaled 20 assists to go along with 12 digs and Sanchez led Rio Hondo led the defense with 16 digs.
Rio Hondo will look to get in the win column on Wednesday (Sep. 1) when the Roadrunners host Antelope Valley College in their home opener at 6 p.m.
Orange Coast