After winning the first set Tuesday night, SBCC couldn’t hold late leads in the last three sets and fell to Orange Coast 3-1 in a men’s volleyball match at the Sports Pavilion. The scores were 21-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23.
The Vaqueros (1-2) led the opening set 19-15 and 23-19 before sophomore setter Kaahukane Leite-Ah Yo ended it with a solo block. Orange Coast (2-0), last year’s state runner-up, outscored the home team 7-2, 6-2 and 4-1 to end the final three sets, respectively.
It was the only home appearance for SBCC in the first six weeks of the season.
“We’re a young team and as talented as we are, the lineup we used tonight has only had one practice together,” said coach Armen Zakarian. “Our middles played well but they were facing some tough middles from OCC, who really set the tempo.
“We need to be mentally tougher down the stretch.”
Zakarian praised the play of sophomores Justin Hertlein and Kyle Benskin, along with Leite-Ah Yo. “That was one of Kaahukane’s best matches at SBCC,” said Zakarian.
SBCC will play a neutral-site doubleheader on Saturday at Santa Monica against Palomar (11:30 a.m.) and San Diego City (4:30 p.m.).
Although Hertlein and Benskin played well at the net, they had too many service errors along with the rest of the team.