Friday the 13th turned out to be a good night for the Porterville College women's volleyball team. Thanks to an impressive five-set Central Valley Conference victory over visiting West Hills College Coalinga, PC was finally able to snap a bad-luck string of 10 consecutive losses.
But it wasn't easy. Porterville won its first set in over three matches, taking the opener 25-20. West Hills responded by winning Set 2, 25-12 and then outlasted the Pirates 26-24 in the third.
With momentum clearly on West Hills' side after Set 3, Porterville fought off elimination with a 25-17 win in Set 4 and pulled out the marathon victory with a narrow 16-14 triumph in the fifth.
Freshman Emerald Harris had her best match of the season, totaling season-highs with 15 kills and 13 digs. Also leading the offense was sophomore Brooklynne Beavers with 12 kills while adding 11 digs.
Sophomore Brooke Reilly paced the PC offense with 31 assists and also had a team-best 19 digs. Ashlynn Miller had 16 digs, Jasmine Torres contributed 14 digs, and Rylee Jones had 10 digs.
Porterville, now 3-12 overall and 1-8 in conference play, will look to extend its current streak on Wednesday (Oct. 18) when the Pirates host Reedley College in a 6 p.m. CVC match.