El Camino Breezing Early In SCC Beach Volleyball Race
After starting the 2022 season with three straight non-conference losses, El Camino College got in a groove and is in the midst of a 12-match winning streak as the Warriors are tied with College of the Desert as the early leaders in the South Coast Conference beach volleyball standings.
ECC (12-3, 3-0 in conference) scored 5-0 wins over Rio Hondo and Mt. San Antonio and edged Long Beach City, 3-2, on Mar. 18. El Camino's #1 pair of Fayth Rascon and Lauren McCarthy were put together after the early defeats and they have been brilliant since the move. The duo is 11-1 this season but did meet its match against the Vikings' #1 pair of Lizbeth Lopez and Karyzma Aualiitia, won by Rascon-McCarthy, 21-10, 21-23, 15-10.
The Warriors #3 pair of Leafa Juarez and Brea Rutledge have also led the team's rise to the top of the SCC. Juarez-Rutledge are 13-2 in their matches and have three times gone to three sets for victories. Against Long Beach, Juarez-Rutledge rallied from a set down to defeat Pearlnaiah Tuliau and Caleyse Saunders, 16-21, 21-11, 15-6.
Long Beach, 5-3 and 2-1 in SCC play, had a 4-match win streak snapped by El Camino. The Vikings #2 duo of Jennifer Lias and Celestial Ropati was 4-0 as a pair and beat ECC's #2 pair of Diana Enriquez and Ginia Goods in a closely-contested 23-21, 24-22 match.
College of the Desert (8-5, 3-0) has conference wins over Mt. San Antonio, Rio Hondo and Victor Valley. Against Mt. SAC on Mar. 11, the Roadrunners edged the Mounties, 3-2. The #1 pair of Tyler Davis and Lexi Dempsey has proven to be a formidable duo at 7-1 overall. They rallied to beat Mt. SAC's solid #1 pair of Riley Degroot and Allison Whiteman, 13-21, 21-18, 15-7.
Mt. San Antonio (5-7, 0-3) is paced by Degroot-Whiteman and in all five of their team wins, the duo won v. their fellow #1 opponents. Against ECC's Rascon-McCarthy on Mar. 18, they played well in a 21-19, 21-16 defeat.
Rio Hondo (2-10, 1-2) has a nifty top pair in Nadine Oronoz and Faith Lee and they scored a nice non-conference win over Bakersfield's Aly Dees and Kami Mariou, 21-14, 21-11. They played hard in a loss v. Desert's pair of Kyrsti Photias and Katie Geiberger-Tiegen, 21-16, 18-21, 24-22.
Victor Valley (0-3 in conference/overall) is led by the Rams' top pairing of Caylin Bowen and Karla Diaz.
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID