Jordon Dyer had eight kills and a season-high six service aces on Friday night as SBCC rallied to beat Santa Monica 3-1 in a WSC men’s volleyball match at the Sports Pavilion.
The 19-25, 25-12, 25-18, 25-18 win snapped a four-match losing streak for the No. 9-ranked Vaqueros (7-6, 2-4). The Corsairs fell to 3-10 and 0-6.
“Home-court advantage really makes a difference,” said Dyer, a former Dos Pueblos High standout. “We didn’t have to do any driving. We came out ready to go.”
The Vaqueros played four of their first five conference matches on the road. Friday marked the opening of the second round of WSC play.
“Our blocking won this match,” Dyer added. “It took away all their motivation.”
Santa Barbara had 13 aces and 11 blocks. Chris Utroske had five blocks while Matt Winslow and Luke Pope produced three aces each.
Cody Kreitzer led in kills with 10. Dyer, who split time between setter and outside hitter, added eight kills and two blocks. Utroske also had eight kills, including a straight-down slam early in the third set.
Aquiles Montoya added six kills.
“Our block wasn’t working in the first set and we compounded that with eight hitting errors,” said coach Armen Zakarian. “We weren’t challenging them and forcing the issue.
“I showed our guys the stats after the first game and told them we can’t make eight errors and expect to win. We made a couple of adjustments and got some different blocking matchups that helped neutralize their hitters.”
After making eight errors in the opening set, the Vaqueros only had six in the last three sets.
The Vaqueros jumped ahead 6-1 and 16-8 in the second set. Michael Naki ended it with a blast from the 10-foot line. In the third set, Santa Barbara went on a 9-2 run and took a 15-9 lead on an ace by Dyer.
SBCC dominated the fourth set with an early leads of 9-4 and 14-10. The Vaqueros went on a 6-3 run, capped by an ace from Naki that made it 20-13.
“We can’t be satisfied with this win,” noted Zakarian. “Last time, we won a five-gamer at Santa Monica, we dropped the next four. I reminded the guys that we have to build on this and continue to improve.”
Santa Barbara hosts Moorpark on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
