No. 3 Vaqueros cruise to eighth straight win

SBCC came out blazing on Wednesday night, hitting .448 in the first set and taking a 13-3 lead on the way to a 3-0 women's volleyball victory over Santa Monica at the Sports Pavilion. The scores were 25-12, 25-16, 25-17.

It was the eighth sweep in 11 matches for the Vaqueros (10-1), who are ranked No. 3 in the state. Tuesday was their second straight home match after playing the first nine on the road.

"We didn't know much about them, so we just pretended they were like Grossmont, a really good team and that's why we won the first two sets," said sophomore outside hitter Shannon Friend. "Then we kind of went on cruise control in the third set and we need to improve on that."

Setter Kiana Pisula had a double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. Kaylene Ureno and Carolyn Andrulis led in kills with seven apiece. Ureno hit .400 and had 10 digs while Andrulis recorded a .316 hitting percentage. Friend added six kills and three aces.

The Vaqueros broke open a 12-10 game with a 9-2 run in the second set that stretched the lead to 21-12. SBCC led 7-2 in the third set before the Corsairs (1-10) rallied to tie it at 10 and 11. After holding a slim 18-16 lead, Santa Barbara closed the third set on a 7-1 run to secure the sweep.

"Our game plan was to concentrate on first contact, make sure we were in system and get the middles established early," said coach Ed Gover. "All the little things that make us a solid unit. The more we get our middles involved early, the more it will help us down the stretch.

"We got some nice long service runs by Claire Bagdasar and Shannon. Service runs are huge for me. This team works hard on their serving and it's nice when we get those long runs."

Bagdasar had a 7-0 service run that made it 13-0 in the opening set and Friend had a 5-0 run in the second set, including an ace. Jaela Caston made back-to-back kills in the middle, extending the lead to 18-11.

"We love playing at home," Gover added. "We have a beautiful gym and our kids feel so comfortable playing here."

Karissa Mertens (4 kills) closed out the first set with a pair of kills. The second set was capped by an ace by Mertens and a smash down the middle by Friend.

"We're really close as a team, they're like my second family," said Friend. "I think we're going to win state this year because we have a lot of dynamic players who can play any position."

The Vaqueros will take on West L.A. on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the eight-team L.A. Pierce Invitational in Woodland Hills.