Lady Cougars Get First Win in Split at El Camino Tri-Tourney

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

TORRANCE — College of the Canyons picked up its first victory of the season before settling for a two-game split at the annual El Camino College tri-tourney on Friday. 

In the opening match it was Canyons (1-3) able to knock off the host Warriors (0-5) by a 3-1 final score. Set scores were 25-22, 17-25, 25-15, 25-13.

The Lady Cougars received eight kills from both Leah Gillie and Kaireese Johnson to help lead the attack. Johnson hit .421 for the match to lead COC and added a pair of block assists. Gillie was a force all over the court with four aces, a block and six block assists across her four sets. She also hit .312 for the match to rank second on the team.

Kyla Dothard recorded five kills, with Ana Vasquez, Kamia Benjamin and Naomi Greer all checking in with three apiece.

Canyons was strong at the net throughout the match and finished the contest with 16 block assists. Greer claimed three and Kaitlyn Vazin also added a pair.

Presley Golphenee had a big impact on the game with six aces, four assists and a game-high 17 digs.

Jaylyn Zavala distributed to the tune of 12 assists and also added five digs. Sutton Thompson finished with seven assists, three aces, two digs.

El Camino hit just .018 as a team but did see a player reach double-digit kill totals in Sophia Ortiz, who finished with 11. Ryan D'Angelo was next for the Warriors with nine.

Canyons fell in its afternoon affair to Grossmont College by a 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-19) final.

This time around it was Vasquez finishing with a team-high seven kills. Greer was next with six followed by Gillie with four. Thompson added three more aces to go with eight assists. Both totals led COC in the match.

Up next, Canyons travels south for the annual San Diego Mesa Quad tourney Sept. 8-9. COC is slated to face the host Olympians (5-0) at 2 p.m. on Friday with a scheduled 5 p.m. meeting vs. MiraCosta College (1-2) later that day.

On Saturday, it will be COC vs. Cypress College (6-0) with a scheduled 1 p.m. first serve.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

—Photo by Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information