SBCC jumped ahead of San Diego Mesa 9-3 in the opening set Friday night and went on to post a 30-21, 28-30, 30-22, 30-22 victory in its men’s volleyball home debut at the Sports Pavilion.
“On Wednesday, we came out in a great rhythm at defending state champion Irvine Valley and won the first game,” said Vaquero coach Melody Parker. “Then we dropped three straight. We weren’t going to let that happen again.”
Miles Evans, a 6-4 freshman from Dos Pueblos High, paced the Vaqueros (2-1) with 22 kills and a .470 hitting percentage. Ex-Bishop Diego High standout Mark Hebda added 14 kills and hit an impressive .611. Jim Wielebnicki had 18 digs.
“I feel like I played really well, although I could have minimized a couple errors and I could have served better,” said Evans. “We just need to keep working hard in practice and weight lift as much as we can and we’ll be fine.
“We have some great hitters and I think we can take it all the way this year.”
SBCC had six ace serves in the opening set, including three straight by Chris Newcomb. They built an 18-10 lead in the third set and Irvine pulled within three before the Vaqueros ended with an 8-3 burst. Leading 13-10 in the fourth set, SBCC took control with a 6-2 run, capped by a clever dump set from Evans.
Parker said setter Justin Conmy “did a good job of getting the ball to the hitters in the right spots.
“We’re young (with only four sophomores) but I feel really good about this team,” she concluded. “I think we’re going to get better and better and better as the season goes on.”
SBCC has two home matches next week against Orange Coast (Wednesday) and Palomar (Feb. 13).
