SAN DIEGO, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Women's Volleyball team lost at #1 San Diego Mesa in the second round of the SoCal Regionals, 3 sets to none. The Western State Conference co-champions conclude their season 16-11 overall.
"I'm proud of how hard our team fought against SD Mesa, even though we didn't always play our best," head coach Kat Niksto said. "Our goal was consistency and unfortunately we were too up and down."
The Vaqueros got off to a hot start thanks to Gabby Russell's aggressive serving, but Mesa came back to tie the score midway through the set. They eventually would prevail 25-19, taking the first set.
Mesa was in control most of the second set, their block leading the way. As a team, Mesa would finish with 12 blocks overall, with two players (Emily Eltrich and Jaelyn Douglas) compiling 4 each. They would win the set 25-17.
Down 2-0, the Vaqueros battled to the end. The third set was the most competitive of the night with both teams neck-and-neck throughout. Down 24-23, SBCC could not extend the match, though, losing the point and set, 25-23.
Sophomore Gabby Russell concluded her phenomenal season with 14 digs, eclipsing the 350 on the season in the process (355).
"Gabby was once again a leader on the court, solid in serve receive passing and all over the place on defense!" Niksto praised her libero.
"Both setters Sophie Ward and Natalie Lercari-Sullivan worked hard to utilize all our hitters, but the Mesa block was bigger than most we saw all season long," Niksto continued. "Katie McArthur came into the match midway though and gave us a boost with her tremendous blocking ability."
Lercari-Sullivan finished with 12 assists, while Ward finished with 9. McArthur led the team in blocks with 3.
Nevaeh Tillet finished her solid second half of the season with 9 kills, leading the team by a wide margin.
"Nevaeh was the most productive offensively for us, impressing with her diverse range of attacks," Niksto said.
"It was a tough loss to end our season, especially for our sophomores; and especially for Heidi Collins and Callahan Rule who were both out with injuries but have been incredible contributors to our team all season long," Niksto said. Collins led the team in kills on the season with 176.
"At the end of the day, the team went down fighting, never giving up till the final whistle blew," Niksto concluded.
SBCC finished with a share of the conference title for the second time in three years. Furthermore, despite the loss of some key sophomore contributors, the foundation of the current freshman class is more than capable of continuing the Vaqueros' success.
Kira Little (155), Evan Ybarra (128), Chaya Clemons (127), and Nevaeh Tillet (104) all finished with over 100 kills, only behind sophomore Heidi Collins (176). Little also had 34 aces. Freshman Natalie Lercari-Sullivan led the team in assists with 460. Lercari-Sullivan also was second in digs with 151, with Little (142) and Tillet (137) right behind. Carly Hanna had 42 blocks and Clemons had 38 to finish only behind sophomore Alexis (Birdie) Zevenbergen with 48.
Look for the Vaqueros to build off this season heading into Beach Volleyball in the spring and next fall's Volleyball season, too.
