Vaquero spikers starting to find groove

Samantha Potter registered 22 kills and the SBCC women’s volleyball team rallied from a 9-6 deficit in Game 5 to hand Cuesta a 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 17-25, 15-12 defeat on Tuesday night.

“Considering that we’re mostly freshmen and we’ve had time to play with each other, we’re really starting to connect,” said Potter. “Our passing has really improved.”

It was the third straight win and fifth in six matches for the Vaqueros (6-9, 4-1 WSC). Cuesta falls to 7-7 and 3-2.

Jessica Tune added 11 kills, Maria Mayer had 10 and Angelica Smith contributed seven putaways. Vanessa Shaw, the libero, notched 30 digs.

After trailing 9-6 in Game 5, SBCC ended the match on a 9-3 run. Smith had a pair of spikes in the middle to cut the deficit to one and Shaw gave the home team the lead on back-to-back ace serves.

“The connection between Angelica Smith and (setter) Amelia Shugrue were just amazing,” said SBCC coach Ed Gover. “Those were two great powerfull hits and it opened up everything else.

“We got some confidence after beating Ventura (last Friday). They didn’t quit tonight and they believed in themselves.”

Gover flipped his lineup in Game 5 to give the Cougars a different look. “That opened up new things for us,” he noted.