SBCC Claims First Two Wins in Just Seven Sets

SANTA BARBARA – The SBCC men's volleyball team picked up its first two wins of the season on week two of its 2023 season, defeating Fullerton in four sets 26-28, 25-20, 25-19, 25-21 and sweeping Golden West 25-18, 25-15, 25-16.

Cameron Brown (23 points), Sean Ortiz (21) and Cole Richards (20.5) all averaged over 10 points per match to lead the Vaqueros (2-1). This is the seventh time in nine seasons that SBCC has started the year 2-1.

SBCC 3, Fullerton 1
Santa Barbara dropped a close first set 28-26 to the Hornets (1-3), but responded well from there. The Vaqueros won each of the next three by at least four points, tying it with a 25-20 second set, winning the third by their largest margin of the day 25-19 and finishing it off 25-21 in set four.

SBCC was actually slightly outhit, but relied on a huge defensive effort. The Vaqueros outdug the Hornets 44-24 and had 12 blocks, eight of which were credited to middle blocker Ortiz. They also had 12 blocks to Fullerton's nine.

Ortiz was also efficient on offense, tallying seven kills on a .417 hitting percentage. Freshman Troy Fitzgerald finished second with 13.5 points on a 10-kill, seven-dig, three-block night.

Also hitting over .400 was freshman Cameron Brown, who had team-highs of 14 points and 13 kills (.407).

SBCC 3, Golden West 0
Two nights later, SBCC comfortably picked up its first sweep of the season, 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 over Golden West. Once again, the Vaqueros enjoyed their largest win in set two.

Brown led the team in kills (7) for the third straight match to begin the year. Outside hitter Cole Richards went for a team-high 11 points, recording a second-leading six kills, four blocks and two aces.

SBCC had huge advantages of 6-1 in aces and 12-3 in blocks.