Porterville outlasts Merced for 3-2 win at home

PORTERVILLE – The Porterville College women's volleyball team earned its first win of a tough season thanks to a marathon five-set victory over visiting Merced College on Friday.

The Pirates won the back-and-forth battle by scores of 27-25, 12-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13 as part of a pair of non-conference matches at home.

Crystal Maciel and Natalia Martin both had season-highs of 15 kills each to lead the Pirates in the win. Maciel added 4 blocks and 3 aces while hitting an impressive .478 for the match.

Aubrey Wynne added 11 kills to go with 6 digs and Janelle Sanchez contributed 8 kills. Alyssa Nunez led with 21 digs and Sammantha Zamora added 15 digs. Jolina Castaneda had a solid all-around match with 25 assists, 5 kills, 5 digs, and a pair of aces.

PC couldn't keep the momentum going and suffered a 3-1 (25-13, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21) loss to Cerro Coso later that day. Martin had 11 kills, Zamora posted 11 digs, and Castaneda totaled 17 assists, 11 digs, and 2 aces for the Pirates.

Porterville moved to 1-10 overall and is back in action on Sep. 27 when it travels to Ohlone College in Fremont to take on the host Renegades and Lassen College in non-conference matches.