After dominating the first set and rallying to win the second, SBCC lost its hitting touch on Saturday night and Pasadena took advantage to beat the Vaqueros 3-2 in the Southern Cal Regional women’s volleyball playoffs at Hutto-Patterson Gym in Pasadena.
The fourth-seeded Lancers (22-4) won the second-round match 17-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21, 15-13. It was their third win over the Vaqueros this season and second 3-2 decision.
SBCC had its seven-match win streak snapped and finishes with a 21-6 record. It was the second straight 21-win season for the Vaqueros, who’ve won two straight WSC North titles and are 42-9 the last two years.
Allyson Porter led Santa Barbara with 20 kills and 16 digs and Antonia Antes had 15 kills. Piper Obradovich dug 15 balls and WSC MVP Kelsey Soos had 42 assists, 11 digs and three aces. Danielle Stewart produced four aces.
After hitting .346 in the first set, the Vaqueros dropped to a .066 clip in the last four sets, including minus .067 in the fifth.
“Pasadena is a high-quality team, ranked seventh in the state, and it’s never easy,” said Ed Gover, after completing his 21st season as head coach. “They changed their lineup which helped them in Game 3. We battled but we made a couple of errors at key times.
“They have a very good outside hitter, No. 10 (Aliyyah Abdullah), and you saw her on the last play of the match, that’s why they’re such a high-level team. She did it to us in Game 5 last time we played them.”
Pasadena had 15 team blocks compared to two for the Vaqueros. Kirsten Taylor led the Lancers with 12 kills and a .333 hitting percentage.
“They’re a big team and it‘s hard to get it by ‘em,” said Gover.
The Vaqueros jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 16-8 in the first set before winning 25-17. They overcame a 19-15 deficit in the second set with a 9-2 run and Jenn Waddill closed out the 25-23 triumph with a kill.
The Lancers dominated the third set and then rallied after falling behind 17-13 and 20-18 in the fourth set. The Vaqueros led 6-3 in the fifth set but PCC took a 10-9 advantage and never looked back.
“I’m bummed,” said Soos, a former Santa Ynez High standout who started the last two years at setter. “After we won the first two games, maybe we thought it would get easier in Game 3 but it didn’t. Our confidence came down after that. We tried to fight back and we were so close.
“More than anything I’m sad that it’s done for our team. … It was a great season and everyone became best friends and that’s awesome.”
