Evans, Vaqueros improve to 5-0 on young season

Miles Evans racked up 41 kills Saturday and the SBCC men’s volleyball team stayed perfect with a pair of four-set wins at Palomar. The Vaqueros (5-0) topped Palomar 30-26, 20-30, 30-21, 30-23 and San Diego City 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-24 in a pair of nonconference matches.

Three starters missed the second match with minor injuries but the reserves were up to the task as San Diego City suffered its first loss in five matches.

Evans, a sophomore from Dos Pueblos High, had 22 kills in the first match and 19 in the second while Justin Hertlein contributed 11 and 20 kills. Mark Hebda did a good job of filling in for Jonathan Newton at middle blocker with 14 kills in the second match. Scott Livesay set the last six sets after starter Kaahukane Leite-AhYo went out with a leg injury.

“Mark did a great job and Scott ran a nice offense,” said coach Melody Parker. “We have great depth. We used several different lineups and still played strong.”

Pete Aronchick had eight kills in the Palomar match before being replaced by Nick Alexander, who had three kills with several blocks and solid defense in the nightcap.

Libero Andrew Thomason had 27 digs, including 16 in the second match.

It was a long day for SBCC, which left at 4:30 a.m. for the three-hour-plus trip to San Marcos in San Diego County.

“I was so proud of our players,” said Parker. “They showed up on time and with a great attitude. We went to a little quicker offense against San Diego City and had nice passing and great chemistry.”

The Vaqueros travel to Orange Coast on Wednesday.