SBCC rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Santa Monica 3-2 on Friday night in its WSC men’s volleyball opener. The scores were 25-23, 21-25, 27-29, 25-18, 21-19.
“It was one of the craziest matches I’ve ever seen,” said coach Armen Zakarian. “There were wild momentum swings from game-to-game and great comebacks. We got contributions from everybody.”
Cody Kreitzer had 16 kills and Ty Dudley-Mann added 10 for the Vaqueros, who improved to 6-2 with their fourth straight win and sixth in seven matches.
Chris Utroske had seven kills and a season-high nine blocks. Jordon Dyer handed out 41 assists and Derek Martinez had 16 digs.
SBCC was playing its first match in 14 days. It was a huge win for the Vaqueros, who will be on the road for four of their first five conference matches.
Santa Barbara was up 13-10 and 14-12 in the fifth set, which goes to 15 points or until someone is ahead by two. The Vaqueros weathered match point at 15-16 and won it 21-19 when the Corsairs hit into the net.
“We passed well and hit well but we had a lot of missed serves,” Zakarian added. “We had so many people play great — Michael Naki, Matt Winslow, Dakota Smith and Johnny Brand to name a few.
“This was a big win on the road. A win like this is a huge notch in our belt.”
The Vaqueros travel to Moorpark on Wednesday before making their WSC home debut on Friday against L.A. Pierce.
