Freshman Emily Banas had 14 kills and an ace on Tuesday night as SBCC swept Hancock 25-13, 25-20, 25-12 in its women’s volleyball home finale.
Mackenzie Mexico had five aces and five digs and Melissa Luke added five digs for the 24th-ranked Vaqueros, who won for the fifth straight time to improve to 13-9 overall and 10-1 in the WSC North.
All five of Mexico’s aces came during a 10-0 run in the opening set that stretched the lead to 14-4.
It was Sophomore Night for setter Mariah Mathews and outside hitters Heidi Van Den Oever and Ari Kamp. SBCC rallied from a 14-11 deficit in the second set and won it 25-20 on an off-speed dink by Kamp.
“It’s crazy that this is my last home match,” said Mathews, who had four digs. “It hasn’t set in yet. We played really well, considering we were missing one of our middles.”
Bianca Castro missed the match due to illness and Van Den Oever moved from the outside to middle hitter. She had two stuff blocks to cap off the first set and a kill late in the third set boosted the lead to 20-9.
“I was trying to distribute the ball everywhere tonight, not just to the outside,” said Mathews.
The Vaqueros close the regular season with a first-place showdown at unbeaten Moorpark on Thursday. SBCC and Moorpark have shared the last two WSC titles.
“Ari played steady, Heidi stepped it up and Mariah did a great job setting,” said coach Ed Gover. “Mariah played superb defense.
“Playing at Moorpark is a great opportunity for our girls to go in fired up. Everything’s going to be on the line and it‘s going to be total fun. You can’t ask for a better ending.”
