Coming off a sweep in their season opener on Aug. 22, the Cerritos College Falcons volleyball team trounced Riverside City College, en route to another 3-0 home win on Wednesday.
Head coach, Ashleigh Atsaros, spent the last four seasons at Riverside City College as an associate head coach and has led the Falcons to an encouraging 2-0 start on the season in her first year at Cerritos.
Even with several lead changes early on in set one of the match and later in the final set, the Falcons maintained their intensity throughout and managed to shift the momentum in their favor.
“Our serve receive is very dominant. Our defense is consistent. So, I think that makes a difference in running our offense,” Atsaros said when highlighting her team’s ability to perform.
“These girls work so freaking hard in practice,” she added, “and during matches, they turn it on. They know how to turn it on.”
Atsaros noted sophomore middle blocker Daniela Luna and freshman libero Roselyn Tobie as key contributors to the match and said without them it could have been a different outcome.
Luna, like her head coach, also joined the Cerritos volleyball team this season after a year at Riverside City College. She recorded 10 kills on the night and a dominating .474 hitting percentage against her former team.
Luna credits a lot of the work the team puts in during practice for their early success.
“We have great passers, we have great liberos,” Luna said, “outside hitters as well and I feel like I can trust my passers.”
Tobie recorded a match-high 19 digs on the defensive end along with six assists. She said, in Spanish, that her main objective when she is on the court is to ensure the ball doesn’t hit the floor, provide accurate passes to her setter and always pressure the other team.
Along with Tobie, the Falcons’ roster this season is constructed of mostly freshmen and major offensive contributors in the match were Elizabeth Beltran and Jordin Lewis who also recorded 10 kills each.
As for returning players, Evelyn Soto-Castro is only one of two for Cerritos and is taking on a new role this season, moving from the outside hitter position to the setter position.
She played a significant part in the match with 31 assists and sealed the win in the last set for the Falcons with her third service ace of the night.
“I doubt myself a lot, but I know I shouldn’t,” Soto-Castro said on taking on a new challenge this season, “the game yesterday helped me build my confidence a lot in becoming a setter.”
For such a newly established squad, both Luna and Soto-Castro acknowledged the chemistry the team has been able to build over the summer.
The goal for this Falcons volleyball team is to win their conference and Luna pointed out blocking as one of the areas of improvement moving forward, but are optimistic with the team they have and the coaches who have invested a lot of time into them.
The Falcons’ next match will be yet another home game Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. against College of the Canyons.
