Highly Competitive Year In SCC Women's Volleyball Leaves Rio Hondo On Top
2023 ALL-SCC WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Noted Edited to update placings add All-SCC Team link, 11/16/23
In the history of South Coast Conference women's volleyball, no year will quite match 2023 when it comes to the overall strength of teams and the ultra competitive matches that took place between each of the top seven teams.
A number of squads were ranked as high as the state's Top 15 with current #12 Rio Hondo standing on top with its first SCC title since joining the conference in 2016 and the first Roadrunners championship in the sport since they were a member of the Foothill Conference in 1995.
Rio Hondo finished 15-1 followed by a logjam for second place with #14 Mt. San Antonio, #16 Long Beach City and #17 Pasadena City all tied with 11-5 conference marks. In all a record six conference teams were a part of the most recent CCCWCA State Top 25, released on Nov. 6.
Both tied for fifth place #T25 East Los Angeles, 8-8 in conference play, and #T25 Cerritos (8-8) also joined the others in state recognition.
In Non-Conference Ratings Percentage Index (NCPRI), Rio Hondo (20-4 overall) at .522 had the lowest of the six teams while Cerritos at .619 had the highest while in Total Season RPI (TSRPI) currently Mt. SAC (17-9) was highest at .595 or No. 5 in the SoCal Region, followed by Rio Hondo at No. 9, PCC (18-8) No. 10, Long Beach (18-4) No. 12, ELAC (20-10) No. 17 and Cerritos (13-8) the lowest in the group at No. 19.
Fuzzy math much? Other criteria will eventually be taken into account, including conference finish, when determing the top 20 seeds for this year's regionals.
Even seventh place El Camino (5-11 in SCC matches), a team that won't make it into the playoffs, closed with a flourish in a shocking upset sweep over Pasadena on Nov. 10. PCC happened to be the only team to defeat Rio Hondo in conference play in four sets on Oct. 18.
Other signs of the strength of conference were ELAC split v. Long Beach (ELAC forfeited last win v. Vikings due to a 3C2A infraction for playing too many dates), LBCC twice edging Mt. SAC, both in five sets, Mt. SAC winning their two matchups v. rival PCC, and Cerritos twice beating East LA (one in five sets). In all, there were 11 conference matches that went the 5-set distance with El Camino stretching both Rio Hondo and Long Beach to a final set to 15 before losing.
Rio Hondo was led this season by South Coast Conference Most Valuable Player Maria Bejines, averaging 3.48 kills and 3.72 digs per set. RHC ultimately went 2-0 v. Mt. San Antonio, Long Beach, ELAC, Cerritos, and El Camino while 1-1 v. PCC.
In pre-conference play, Mt. SAC defeated state #3 and SoCal #1 Grossmont, handing the Griffins their only loss this season, and has wins over Western State tri-champs Moorpark and Santa Barbara City plus a victory over WSC South co-champ Bakersfield. Pasadena defeated both current RPI #7 Moorpark (five sets) and #8 Saddleback (a sweep) and also have wins v. SBCC and Bakersfield. ELAC took #5 RPI Cypress to five sets in a defeat.
Eighth place LA Harbor, under a new coach, and ninth place Los Angeles City, a program brought out of hiatus after a long layoff, each took the brunt of facing such strong teams thoughout conference play.
In the SCC statistics, the following players led the conference:
Kills Per Set: Roselia Cazares, East LA, 4.52; Most Kills: Cazares 375
Hitting Percentage: Mikayla Curry, Long Beach, .303
Blocks Per Set: Kiara Davis, East LA, 1.01; Most Blocks: Davis 81
Set Assists Per Set: Capri Salmon, Mt. SAC, 9.04; Most Assists: Salmon 859
Service Aces Per Set: Leeya Rubio, Cerritos, 0.69; Most Aces: Rubio 48
Digs Per Set: Priscilla Castillo, Cerritos, 4.79; Most Digs: Alejandra Alfaro, East LA, 358
The parity in the conference could be a strength for the South Coast teams as they await the SoCal seedings, to be announced Nov. 16 (check SCC Twitter at @SouthCoastConf1 and the 3C2A website at 3C2Asports.org for the regional matchups and brackets).
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID