Warriors Open Conference Tournament with Sweep over Cerritos

No. 1 seed El Camino College opened the South Coast Conference Tournament with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-15) sweep over No. 8 Cerritos Wednesday night at the Hall of Champions Gym at Long Beach City College.

Mikayla Clark led the Warriors with 12 kills on 32 swings and Ginia Goods added 10 kills on 17 attempts in the victory. Caitlin Donatucci dished out 32 assists and added seven digs while Kelly Donatucci recorded 13 digs to lead the defense.

Alexia Torres led the Falcons with seven kills and Mirka Granoble had 20 assists in the loss.

The Warriors never trailed in the first two sets against the Falcons. The Warriors opened the match on a 5-0 scoring run and cruised to a 1-0 lead quickly.

In the second, the Warriors used another 5-0 spurt to open up an 11-5 advantage and once again never looked back to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

The Falcons took a 6-4 lead in the third set, but the Warriors once again ran off five straight points to take a 9-6 lead. The Falcons would tie the match again at 10-10 but ECC outscored Cerritos 15-5 to close out the match and move on to the next round.

The Warriors will face Rio Hondo in the semifinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Roadrunners nearly pulled off an upset over ECC on Oct. 30, taking the first two sets from the Warriors at the ECC South Gym before ECC stormed back to win in five.