Sports
March 13, 2014
Winning ways continue
El Camino College Union 10
Offense explodes in rout
Joel Leon
Rocky Rivera
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
@ECCUnionJoel
@ECCUnionRocky
Trailing by two sets, a Moorpark College player tries to be sneaky by lobbing an easy ball over an attentive sophomore Brand Heihle, who simply pounced the ball for an easy point in favor of the Warriors to extend their winning streak, and are now 3-0 so far this season. What seemed to have been an easy game against an opponent who played very practical, was indeed filled with several mistakes that, Head Coach Dick Blount, thought could have been prevented. “We played sloppy tonight,” Blount said. “When we see them again that’ll be a much tougher game for us.” During the first and second set, the Warriors dominated Moorpark. Even when the Warriors committed mistakes, they were able to make up for it, and won both sets respectively by 17-25 and 20-25. In the third set, the Warriors started off on the wrong foot, and trailed by a few points. However, the team quickly fought back, and wrapped the game with the score of 20-25. Despite the team having a good performance, coach Blount was forced to make a lot of changes during the game. According to Blount, the team’s setter was changed, due to the starting setter “off-court issues.” Freshmen Nick Williamson, who recorded two kills and 33 assists on Friday’s game, was given the shot to prove his worth. “We passed really well tonight,” Williamson said. “I think overall we played really good we just didn’t take advantage of the stuff we had.” “Moorpark played their game, and did not give up points by playing very spectacular,” Williamson added. Another detriment the team had during the game was that they did not “play smart,” freshmen Nehemiah Losia said. “Several mistakes were made due to lack of focus, and because Moorpark made less errors, the Warriors had to struggle and fight for every single point,” she added. The Warriors are just began their season, and are winning, but Coach Blount knows that in order to reach higher success they have to play more smartly. “What gets us in trouble is when we get too cute,” Blount said. “We need to be more disciplined.” The Warriors face Santa Barbara College next, and Blount said he is “nervous” about Wednesday’s game, since it is always difficult to win road games, especially against difficult teams. The team will now prepare and look to keep their undefeated record as they play on Wednesday night, set for 7:30 p.m., at Santa Barbara territory. “I just think we had a lot of hitting errors, which is kind of uncharacteristic because our last couple of games we had really low hitting errors,” Williamson said. “So I think if we fix our hitting errors will be a very dangerous team.”
Gilberto Castro / Union
Sophomore Liliana Lopez wins the 2nd heat of the Women’s 100 meter hurdles in last Friday’s meet at Cerritos College with a time of 16.48 seconds. Lopez also competed in a variety of other track and field events, including the Javelin Throw, Triple Jump, and the 4 x 400-meter relay race.
Warriors on point
Cynnamon Baker Staff Writer
@ECCUnioncBaker
As runners walked up to the starting line, anxiety was built up as they jumped, shook and moved around to loosen their nerve tensions building up, and as they get onto their blocks, ready to run, a system error halted the race. “The computers and the cameras weren’t working during the [100 meter] hurdles,” Syrea Hicks, freshman sprinter said. By hand-timing the races continued despite problems. On Friday March 7, EC’s track and field team competed against Cerritos College, College of the Canyons, Ventura College and East L.A. College in a non-scoring multi-team invite held at Cerritos College. Many of the Warriors placed top three in events, while others earned current titles for Southern California. Runners had the opportunity to participate in events that weren’t their specialties. Crystal Lizaola, sophomore sprinted her way to earning her a spot on EC’s College AllTime Top 10 Performer List as seventh placed athlete. She also holds the current Southern California title in the 400m hurdles with a time of 63.26 seconds. “It is a good (stand alone) mark,” Lofgren said. “She is the current state leader with Raven [Nunez] as number two in Southern California.” As she led the 4x 400m relay with sophomore team mates
Raven Nunez, Liliana Lopez and Jaylyn Branch helped pull in a winning time of 3:56.89 making them the new 400m relay leaders in Southern California. While sophomores lead the way, some up and coming freshman are making their mark on the track. Despite time-system failure during, Hicks was clocked at 14 seconds hand-timed in 100m hurdles as well as placing second in both the Long and Triple Jump. “I had to stay really focused,” Hicks said. Hoping to “perfect the race,” she views the week during practice to prepare her for competition. Just like the women’s team, the men also came home with wins. Freshman Raphael Lawton-Gayle had a productive weekend along with team mates. He won the 100m in 11.18 seconds and placed third in the Long Jump. “I felt I did decent in my events. I can defiantly improve,” Lawton-Gayle said. He sets goals for the season by “using this season as a building block for next season.” “Getting experience under their belt can allow them to get stronger in events,” Lofgren said. “Although it’s early in the season, the team has potential to be well-rounded.” Friday and Saturday the team will be competing at CSU Fullerton. Lofgren says it will possibly be the most competitive meet in this part of the season.
Warriors Schedule Men’s Baseball:
men’s Volleyball:
Today vs. Pasadena City College 2:30p.m.
Friday at LA Trade Tech College 6p.m.
Women’s Softball:
men’s & Women’s Swim & Dive:
Monday vs. Grossmont College 3p.m.
Friday vs. Rio Hondo & East LA College 12:30p.m.
Men’s & Women’s Track & Field: Saturday at CSU Fullerton (Ben Brown Invite)
Gilberto Castro / Union
Sophomore Tarou Seki successfully clears the crossbar in his first attempt at 14 feet in the Men’s Pole Vaunt at last Friday’s meet at Cerritos College. Seki would go on to win the event and is currently ranked 16th in Pole Vault throughout all Southern California.
With momentum in the Warriors favor, sophomore third baseman Reina Trejo all but finished off the game with a home run mid-way through the game, which helped EC earn a huge 10-2 victory away at L.A. Mission last Friday. “We came out and played our hardest,” said sophomore pitcher Danielle Bonsky. “Everybody got at least one hit so they really did their job and contributed to the game.” The offense dominated the game, with six different players getting at least one RBI. Coach Elaine Martinez was proud of the amount of hits her team got, and revealed their secret to success this season. “That’s kind of how hitting goes,” Martinez said. “It comes in waves, and you ride that wave up high, then it flattens a little and sometimes you get into crevices, so we’re just trying to find more consistency, which will be the key for us during the rest of the season to determine whether we make playoffs or not.” EC came out hitting as the offense has seen a major improvement lately. They’ve averaged 11 runs over the past two games, and these results are attributed to hard work off the pitch. “I think [our hitting] has definitely improved. I think working on it all the time in practice and keeping up with our drills has helped us a lot,” Trejo said. The win at L.A. Mission marks the end of a long run of seven consecutive away games as the team is happy to be back playing at EC for a change. “It’ll be nice to be back at home,” Martinez said. “We haven’t had one in over a week, so we’re looking to forward to having a home game.” Thirteen of their remaining fifteen fixtures are against Conference opposition, who are direct rivals for playoff spots. With the postseason on the horizon, the Warriors are keeping they’re feet on the ground but are determined to fight for a berth. “We can’t say for sure we will make playoffs, but we’re confident,” Bonsky said. “Anything can happen, but I feel like we’re confident enough and can beat these upper level teams to make the playoffs,” EC took an early 2-0 lead before adding another run in the fourth inning. Seven more runs in the pivotal fifth inning clinched the 10-2 victory away to L.A. Mission. The Warriors’ record stands at 11-8 after this win and they’ll hope to keep the run going away to Pasadena on March 13.
Warriors Scoreboard Men’s Volleyball:
Warriors 3 (8-3), Moorpark 0
Men’s baseball: Warriors 9 (10-6), Cerritos 2,
Women’s Softball:
Warriors 10 (11-8), LA Mission 2
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