Leilua’s Double-Double Leads Warriors Past Pasadena

TORRANCE, Calif. – Sophomore Phina Leilua notched her third double-double of the season as No. 3 El Camino College swept visiting Pasadena 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-23) Wednesday night at the ECC South Gym.

The Warriors (9-1) logged their fourth straight win thanks to Leilua's 18-kill, 11-dig effort on Wednesday night. She committed just three attacking errors on 37 attempts for a .405 kill percentage. It's the third straight match Leilua has attacked at a .400-plus rate and sixth overall. It was also the seventh time she's notched double-digit kills and fourth time she's recorded 15-plus kills in a match. Leilua also added four aces, three blocks and one assist.

Caitlin Donatucci led the team with 21 assists and added six digs on the night with Keri Isara dishing out nine helpers. Kelly Donatucci led the defense with 22 digs and was two assists shy of recording a double-double of her own, finishing with eight helpers.

At the net, the Warriors were dominant with 15 blocks as they got multi-block performances form four players. Meris Ewell led the way with four blocks while Renee Brydon and Leilua had three apiece. Sophia Loiola had one of her best efforts of the season with two blocks to go along with nine kills and a .500 attacking percentage.

The Warriors never trailed in the opening frame and used an 11-0 scoring run on Mikayla Clark's service to pull away from the Lancers and take the first set by double digits.

The second set was much the same as the teams were tied just twice and traded the lead once. With a slim 10-8 lead, the Warriors won four of the next five points and to gain a cushion and then closed out the set on an 11-5 run to take the 2-0 lead.

The Lancers responded in the third set, leading most of the way. The Warriors trailed by as much as five points late in the set but they nibbled away at the lead until two straight kills from Leilua made it 24-23 and then a bad set by Tehya Topalian wrapped up the match and gave ECC its ninth win of the year and eighth sweep.

The Warriors will be away from the ECC South Gym for their next three matches beginning Oct. 3 at Cerritos to begin South Coast Conference-South Division play. First serve is set for 6 p.m.