Owls Battle Brahmas

Glendora, CA - When Los Angeles Pierce College comes calling at the Owls' Nest, there are usually two things that you can count on. First, is that the Brahmas will be good, and coming into Wednesday night's Western State Conference contest with the Owls, Pierce was 23-3 overall and ranked #2 in the State. The second thing is that the Owls will almost always battle the Brahmas no matter what the records are, and Citrus did just that despite being swept in straight sets 16-25, 19-25, and 19-25. 

 While the Owls finished strong, their start was less than desirable. Pierce jumped out to a 9-1 lead on the strength of four aces and a service error by the Owls. Citrus finally settled down after that and played even the rest of the way as the Brahmas outscored the Owls 16-15 over the final 21 points of the set.

In the second set, the Owls overcame a couple of early correctable errors to to use a 4-0 run to take their first lead of the night 8-7 after back-to-back kills by freshman Leah Price and a pair of attack errors by Pierce. The lead didn't last long, but the Owls kept things close trailing by just three at 12-15 after a kill by sophomore Paige Madkin. Pierce would answer by scoring six of the next eight points however, as the Owls fell by six. 

The third set, saw the Owls put together their best effort of the night yet. Citrus ran out to an early 5-3 lead, getting kills from Price, Madkin and freshman Briana Voght in the process. The Owls would extend their lead to four points at 8-4 after an error by the Brahmas and even 10-6 after a kill by freshman Amanda Belzl. Pierce turned on the jets right after though, using a 12-3 run to take a commanding 18-13 lead. The Owls would never get closer than four the rest of the way.

In the loss, Citrus was paced by Price and Madkin who each had seven kills. Freshman setter Patrisha Sangalang had 17 assists, while sophomore Zhari Johnson had a team high 8 digs.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 5-19 overall and 3-4 in WSC South play. The Owls will close out the regular season on Friday when they travel to Santa Monica College for a 6:00 PM showdown with the Corsairs.