SBCC won a marathon first set on Tuesday night and went on to sweep Golden West 35-33, 30-28, 30-28 in its men’s volleyball home opener.
Miles Evans, a 6-5 sophomore from Dos Pueblos High, led the Vaqueros (3-0) with 23 kills and a .309 hitting percentage. Justin Hertlein added 13 kills and six blocks while 6-8 Cody Zoesch hit .428 with seven kills and seven blocks.
“We played really well but we could have played a little better,” said Evans. “We sided out when we needed to and we had a lot of team chemisty at key times.”
Santa Barbara jumped ahead 9-4 in the first two sets but both turned into nailbiters. There were 14 ties in the first set and the Vaqueros had four match points before Pete Aronchick ended it with a stuff spike. In the second set, the home team led most of the way but never by more than two after 14-11. Hertlein capped the 30-28 win with a putaway.
“In rally scoring, the teams that come out on top are the best defensive teams,” said coach Melody Parker.
The Vaqueros had 57 digs, led by Andrew Thomason (17), Aronchick (13), setter Kaahukane Leite-AhYo (12) and Evans (8).
“Dewey (Thomason’s nickname) really keeps us in rallies like no libero I’ve ever seen,” Parker added. “And he has good ball control, which is inspirational to our players. He sets a great example and everybody wants to be like him.”
The Vaqueros built a 23-15 lead in the third set before the Rustlers got within one at 29-28. Hertlein ended the match by pounding a ball off the block.
“We worked a lot on our blocking and it was excellent tonight with 21 team blocks,” said Parker.
SBCC plays a pair of nonconference matches on Saturday at Palomar. The Vaqueros will take on Palomar at 9 a.m. and San Diego City at 2 p.m.
