The unranked Knights pulled of an upset on Friday as they defeated 11th ranked MiraCosta on Friday in five sets (28-26, 16-25, 25-17, 20-25, 15-13) to earn their third consecutive win.
With the win, the Knights improved to 9-6 overall and 5-2 in the PCAC, and also moved into sole possession of third place. City is one match behind Grossmont and two behind Mesa.
Kareemah Hopkins missed the previous match with an injury, but returned on Friday with a stellar performance as she recorded 33 assists, 13 kills, and 11 digs.
Kiara Pena also had 13 kills to go along with 17 digs. Alina Fletes and Alana Holloway were tenacious on defense as they tallied 32 and 22 digs, respectively.
It didn't look good for San Diego City in the first set after falling behind, 23-18, but the Knights scored five consecutive points to tie MiraCosta, 23-23, on a block by Daylah Jackson. There were a total of eight ties in the set, including at 24-24, 25-25, and 26-26, but the Knights were able to prevail, 28-26.
MiraCosta jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and never looked back. They built a 19-10 lead and eventually won, 25-16.
The Knights' effort was much better in the third set as they took an 11-9 lead and extended it to 20-14. They won, 25-17, and took a 2-1 lead in the match.
City trailed, 15-11, in the fourth set, but managed to tie it at 19-19. Unfortunately, MirraCosta closed out the set with a 6-1 run to win, 25-20, and forced a fifth set.
In that deciding set, MiraCosta was looking good early on as they grabbed a 6-2 lead, but the Knights did not allow the Spartans to pull away. With City behind, 11-9, the Knights scored five times in a row to take a 14-11 lead. The Spartans responded with two straight, but the Knights finished them off, 15-13, on a kill from Pena, her fourth of the set.
City's next match will be on Wednesday, October 16 at second place Grossmont with first service scheduled for 6 p.m.
