Hall hits .700 in 3-0 sweep of Trade Tech

Matt Hall had a season-high 14 kills and hit .700 on Friday night, leading SBCC to a 25-11, 25-6, 25-20 men's volleyball triumph over L.A. Trade Tech in the Sports Pavilion.

Hall, a 6-3 freshman middle blocker from Walnut Creek, didn't have a single error in 20 attempts. Tahiarii Caldwell added nine kills and a .500 percentage while Jarrod Jordan had eight kills for a .700 percentage and five digs.

The Vaqueros (7-4, 2-2 WSC) posted a season-high .506 hitting percentage with 45 kills and only five errors in 79 attempts. The Beavers fell to 0-6 and 0-4.

"They were a tough spot because a couple of guys missed the van and they only had six players," said SBCC coach Matt Jones. "For the first two sets, I was happy with how we took care of the ball on our side – we played good defense and gave ourselves a chance to run the middle a lot in transition. Our serving is still not where it needs to be."

The Vaqueros dominated the middle with Hall, Jordan and Jackson Wopat combining to hit .719 with 24 kills and one error in 32 attacks.

"We just had to play our side and stay committed even though we knew they really can't compete with us," said Hall. "We played our game with the exception of the missed serves. The middle was pretty wide open tonight."

Jonathan Baldwin handed out 36 assists and Joe Thayer had a solid all-around performance with four kills for a .500 percentage, six assists and four service aces. The serving was a little better than recent matches but the Vaqueros still had more errors (11) than aces (7).

The Vaqueros jumped ahead 10-5 in the first set and 16-5 in the second, following an 8-0 service run by Jordan. Thayer took over from there, serving the last seven points with three aces. The Vaqueros scored 17 of the last 18 points en route to their most lopsided win of the year, 25-6.

SBCC hit .636 in the first set and .615 in the second with just one error on 48 swings.

Trade Tech built some momentum in the third set, taking a 12-6 lead on a tip kill by Paul Myles. Jordan responded with a kill in the middle, igniting a 13-3 run. Two kills by Caldwell and a kill off the block by Baldwin gave the Vaqueros a 19-15 adantage.

The visitors got within two at 20-18 but the Vaqueros finished on a 5-2 burst, capped by a Jordan serve that was returned wide left by the Beavers.

The Vaqueros open a three-game road trip on Wednesday with a 6 p.m. match at El Camino in Torrance.