Sophomore Dakota Smith recorded 17 kills, eight digs and four aces Friday night, leading SBCC past Orange Coast 3-1 in a men’s volleyball match at the Sports Pavilion. The scores were 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22.
The Vaqueros (1-1) got their first win of the year in their home debut. Orange Coast, last year’s State runner-up, is also 1-1.
SBCC jumped out to a 2-0 lead for the second straight match but was able to finish it off this time.
Smith, a high-flying 6-2 outside hitter, left the fourth game with an injury and his team trailing 3-2. He came back about eight minutes later with the Vaqueros behind 8-7. Collin Cohen (12 kills, 3 blocks) got a kill to tie the set at 8 and Smith drilled a ball to the floor, sparking a 10-3 run that gave SBCC a 17-11 advantage.
“We got away from what we were doing well in the first two sets,” said Smith, “We went into a little funk, then we got back into rhythm in the fourth set.”
The first set was a back-and-forth affair with 12 ties and four lead changes. The Vaqueros snapped a 24-all tie with a kill by Johnny Brand and a block from Stephen Tinen.
Brand had 12 kills, seven digs and four of the Vaqueros’ 13 aces. Middle hitter Aquiles Montoya added nine kills, Tinen contributed four blocks and Jarred Lincoln had six digs.
“We have weapons everywhere,” Smith noted. “There’s no weak link, we are one strong fence.”
SBCC went on a 12-5 run midway through the second set and took a 20-14 lead on back-to-back aces by Drew Hogan. In the fourth set, the Vaqueros led 22-17 before the Pirates pulled to within one at 23-22. The match ended on a kill by Cohen and a backhand tip by OCC’s Cody Martin that rolled off the net and out-of-bounds on the Vaqueros’ side.
“In the first two sets, we stuck to our game plan and stayed consistent,” said coach Armen Zakarian. “We wanted to win the serving and passing game.
“First and foremost, Orange Coast is an extremely well-coached team. Travis Turner does an unbelievable job. These guys were in the finals last year and they always have good players.”
Orange Coast led 13-7 in the third set before the Vaqueros pulled within two (16-14) on a ace by Brock Skriloff. The visitors regained control with a 7-4 run that boosted the lead to 23-18.
“It was a tough match because there were so many stoppages in play,” Zakarian added. “Give credit to our guys. We were down in the fourth, we came back to tie it at 8 and then it was just serving after that.”
The Vaqueros will play their third match in five days on Super Bowl Sunday, taking on Grossmont in an 11:30 a.m. match at L.A. Pierce in Woodland Hills.
