Bianca Castro had eight kills and a career-high 10 blocks on Wednesday night as No. 20 SBCC upset No. 15 Citrus 3-1 in a nonconference women’s volleyball match at the Sports Pavilion. The scores were 26-24, 25-15, 20-25, 25-23.
Castro had four blocks early in the second set as the Vaqueros built a 9-2 lead. The Owls pulled within two at 13-11 before the Vaqueros went on an 8-0 run, capped by a “roof” block from Katie Dolan and Jenna Anderson.
“We played amazing, I’m so proud of our whole team,” said Castro, a 6-foot sophomore middle blocker from Dos Pueblos High. “We’ve been working so hard on our blocking in practice. I got on their players and I knew where their line of approach was when they were hitting. It really came together tonight.”
SBCC improved to 9-6 with its seventh straight win while Citrus fell to 7-6.
Anderson had 15 kills and 11 digs, Jasmine Ward added 14 kills and four aces and Emily Banas collected eight kills and 17 digs. Dolan had seven kills in the middle and libero Mackenzie Mexico contributed 14 digs.
Setter Ari Garner handed out 50 assists.
Santa Barbara took its first lead of the night, 17-16, in the first set when Anderson tooled a kill off the block. The Vaqueros overcame a 22-21 deficit by finishing with a 5-2 run. Ward accounted for four of those points on three kills and a set-clinching ace serve for the 26-24 win.
Citrus jumped out to a 19-10 lead in the third set, only to see the Vaqueros creep within four at 20-16 on two straight blocks by Castro. The Owls regained control to post their only win, 25-20.
SBCC overcame deficits of 9-5, 18-14 and 22-21 in the fourth set. Anderson aced a serve to the left sideline for the 24th point and Castro ended the match with an off-speed shot to the middle of the court.
“It was an exciting match by two extremely defensive-oriented teams,” said Vaquero coach Ed Gover. “Both teams had good firepower at the net. It was a perfect mid-season battle for us.
“Coach (Armen) Zakarian has been working extremely hard on our blocking and tonight, it really paid off. Bianca made it look easy tonight.”
Wednesday was the start of a six-match homestand for the Vaqueros, who will host Hancock on Friday at 7 p.m.
