Facing its toughest challenge of the season, the Porterville College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match at No. 5 state-ranked Fresno City College on Friday night. With the Central Valley Conference loss, the Pirates fell to 5-10 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Fresno, ranked second in Northern California, was too much offensively for the Pirates to handle. Porterville had a .122 attack percentage for the match while the FCC Rams hit .347 on the night, including .571 in the third set.

Sophomore Kendyl Estes did her best to keep the Pirates in the match as she led her squad with 9 kills to go along with 5 digs. Sophomore Shelby Vanasen added 5 kills and an ace while sophomore Gretchen Doyel chipped in with 2 kills and 4 digs.

Freshman Heidy Benitez led PC with 6 digs and sophomore Brandy Rico paced the offense with 15 assists.

Fresno, winners of 67 straight Central Valley Conference matches, improved to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in the CVC. Makayla Cervantes led the Rams with 12 kills.

Porterville returns to the court next Friday (Oct. 7) to play the seventh of eighth straight conference matches on the road as the Pirates are at Cerro Coso College for a 6 p.m. contest.