Vaqueros ace their way to first two wins

SBCC piled up 33 aces on Saturday and registered its first two women's volleyball wins in its own quad tournament. The Vaqueros beat Cerritos 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-20, 25-17) and cruised past Contra Costa 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-6) in 55 minutes.

Santa Barbara is 2-4 on the year.

Kate Richardson, a 6-foot middle blocker from Sammamish, Wash., led the way in the first match vs. Cerritos with a season-high 14 kills, a .545 hitting percentage and three blocks. Jenny Sims added nine kills, Grace Trocki had eight and Kenzie Garrison contributed seven kills, eight digs and six of her team's 15 ace serves.

Setter Danielle Hewitt added 44 assists and four aces while Emma Esparza had 12 digs.

"It feels great to get our first two wins," said Richardson. "We've been working really hard the last week and we played like we practiced.

"We've had a lot of injuries and a lot of redshirts are playing this year. Our team has great chemistry and that pulled us through."

Richardson added 11 more kills against Contra Costa and hit a sizzling .786 with no errors in 14 swings. She also had five block assists. Richardson collected 25 kills and hit .639 on the day.

Jenny Sims had a season-high 10 kills and hit .500. Jazz Hill served eight aces and led in digs with eight. Hewitt dished out 30 assists and Jacque Ortegon had five blocks.

The Vaqueros racked up a season-high 18 aces and outhit the Comets .420 to minus .043.

The Vaqueros jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the second set against Contra Costa on an ace by Hill. They capped the 25-11 win on an ace by Sims and a kill in the middle by Richardson.

SBCC led 7-5 in the third set, then broke it open with a 9-0 run. Garrison crushed a spike to make it 10-5 and Hill served five straight aces to push it to 15-5. Lexi Michaelson served an ace on match point to complete the 25-6 rout.

"It feels very good to get our first two Ws," said coach Ed Gover, who's starting his 28th season. "We played steady vs. Cerritos. We had our ups and downs but the passing got a little bit better and the serving got better.

"Dani, our freshman setter, is starting to settle in and find our middles. Kate Richardson had two great matches today. Everything is getting a little better, step by step."

The Vaqueros will complete a five-game homestand on Saturday when they host No. 5 Grossmont at 2 p.m.