Lancers’ volleyball swept No. 18 Ventura College in a remarkable three set match (25-13, 25-19, 28-26) Saturday night at the SoCal Regional Playoffs, play-in-round.
The play-in-round consists of 18 teams from each region and the last four seeds play for the 15th and 16th spot in playoffs. The 18th seed shutdown the Lancers earlier in the season but this time the Lancers had the home field advantage against Ventura.
“They don’t really use their middle as much so that’s something that we definitely prepared for and we want to use our middles more because that’s something they’re not use to defending,” Paige Clingaman said.
The Lancers displayed that strategy when they gained control of the first two sets. Outside hitters, Clingaman and Rachel Johnson matched with four kills in the first set out of the 13. Ventura didn’t recover in the second set, instead their offense executed nine errors which helped sophomore libero Kelsey Sarreal rack up 15 digs.
However, the Lancers let their guard down in the third set. According to PCC’s athletic website, Ventura maintained an eight point lead and extended the set to a 27-26 match point. With the intensity so high, Vanessa Lopez put it to an end with an ace.
“We’re guilty of getting a little complacent sometimes after we win a set or two and we did that again,” head coach Terrill said. “We waited a little while to call a timeout, but the girls fought back and made it exciting and we got it done in three.”
As the Lancers move onto round one against No. 8 MiraCosta College, once again they have an advantage. This time, they are the underdogs, and with nothing to lose Terrill wants his team to just go for it.
Round one of the SoCal Regional Playoffs begin today at MiraCosta at 7 p.m.
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