Returning the Favor

Glendora, CA -- Over the last seven years, there's been no bigger bully to the Citrus College Volleyball program than the three time defending State Champs Los Angeles Pierce College. The Brahmas have won every single match with the Owls in that time frame, until tonight when the Citrus College Volleyball team finally returned the favor with a four set win over LA Pierce.

The Owls started out the contest a bit tepid, falling behind 10-3 in the first set. Citrus got it to within two at 10-8 after three Pierce attack errors in four points, but the Brahmas rallied and went on to win the first set 25-20. In the second set, Citrus settled in nicely. The two teams traded blows for the first 10 total points, before the Owls used a number of Brahmas errors against them to build up a 10-6 lead. Citrus would never let Pierce get any closer than four for the remainder of the set as they cruised to a 25-18 victory.

The third set was the tightest of the match. Pierce built up an early three point lead, but Citrus hung around and kept themselves in the set by playing relatively error free volleyball. Back to back kills from freshmen Danielle Hundley and Cassandra Freitag midway through the set would tie the match up at 13 all and then give Citrus a one point advantage 14-13. From that point forward the Owls never trailed in the set, and an ace from sophomore Amanda Stone as well as another pair of kills from Freitag and Hundley helped ice the set late.

The fourth set nearly played out like the first with Pierce jumping out to a seemingly insurmountable lead. Down 6-1, Citrus slowly chipped away at the Brahma advantage knotting the match up at 12 points all after back to back kills from Hundley. Pierce briefly pulled back ahead, but a kill from sophomore Kayla Eddings gave the Owls their first lead 17-16. Citrus never looked back as they went on to win a close fourth set 25-22.

In the win, Citrus was paced by sophomore Ana Bui who led the match in kills (14) and team in digs (12). Hundley chipped in with 12 kills, while Freitag had five kills, two total blocks, and a team high three aces. Stone handed out 34 assists, and freshman Maria Aguilar had 10 digs helping propel the Owls to the victory.

With the win, Citrus improves to 3-2 on the year. The Owls can't enjoy the victory too long as the hit the road tomorrow night for another tough contest against another ranked opponent. Citrus will take on #21 Fullerton College Wednesday night at 6:00 PM.