Rio Hondo College freshman Danielle Betancourt totaled a team-best 9 kills to help lead the Roadrunners to a stunning 3-0 sweep at Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday.
The 25-20, 25-17, 25-19 South Coast Conference victory improved Rio Hondo to 4-9 overall and 1-0 in SCC North Division play.
The Roadrunners took full advantage of 31 Mt. SAC attack errors but put together key runs throughout the match, including an amazing comeback in the third set to pull off the win.
In the opening set, a Mounties' error put Rio Hondo ahead 5-4 and the Roadrunners would never trail. Set 2 saw Rio Hondo continue its momentum as the Roadrunners jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. The Roadrunners went up 20-8 and were never threatened.
Mt. SAC came out in the third determined to erase the sweep and blazed to a commanding 11-2 advantage. But Rio Hondo slowly chipped away and got back into the contest thanks to a flurry of Mt. SAC errors. Trailing 16-9, Rio Hondo won nine straight points to take an 18-16 lead.
The Mounties tied up the set at 18 but a kill by Betancourt put Rio Hondo back in front 19-18 before the Roadrunners were able to close out the win. Betancourt's kill brought up match point before Stephanie Perez sealed the set and match victory with an ace.
Perez added 4 kills and a team-high 15 digs while Katherina O'Brien and Felipa Moreno both had 3 kills each. Janine Coria also chipped in with 11 digs and Alejandra Lopez had 3 aces.
Rio Hondo will look to keep the momentum going on Friday (Oct. 5) when the Roadrunners host Chaffey College in a 6 p.m. SCC North Division match.
