Tigers Rally Down Two Sets, Defeat Saddleback in Five-Set Thriller

The Riverside City College women's volleyball team found themselves in a deep hole on Friday night in an Orange Empire Conference (OEC) battle against the Saddleback College Gauchos. Sights seemed bleak after dropping the opening two sets, but the Tigers remained poised and rattled off three-straight set wins leading to a five set victory with scores reading 17-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12.

Riverside utilized a small core of players to get the job done. Freshman outside hitter Vashti Elias-Romero continued to pace the Tigers offense with a game-high 15 kills to go along with 14 digs. It is the seventh time this season she has recorded double-digit kills and digs.

Sophomore setter Taylor Gardner reached her season peak with 38 assists while failing to record a single ball handling error. Furthermore, she added eight digs and a pair of block assists.

Sophomore outside hitter Marcella Rodriguez chipped in nine kills, while sophomore outside hitter Telanni Childs followed suit with eight kills. Sophomore Kiara Oregon was efficient in her swings by hammering home nine kills to equal a .474 kill percentage.

Freshman middle blocker Kayla McKinnon was a monster in the middle by recording a season-high and career-high nine block assists.

Riverside (14-8, 7-5 OEC) will play their final conference road game on Wednesday, November 7 against top-ranked Irvine Valley College at 6 p.m.