SBCC shook up its lineup and used a two-setter offense for the second straight match on Wednesday but still came up short in a tight 27-25, 23-25, 25-23, 27-25 WSC men’s volleyball loss to visiting Santa Monica.
Johnny Brand led the Vaqueros (4-12, 1-8) with 11 kills. The Corsairs (4-12, 1-8) rallied from a 22-19 deficit to win the third set and erased the Vaqueros’ 20-17 advantage in the fourth.
“Our offense was very strong tonight and it was nice to always have six hitters instead of five,“ said Brand, a former Bishop Diego High standout. “The only thing we had trouble with was a little serve-receive passing. It was a tough loss.”
Set 3 was a one- or two-point difference throughout with 16 ties and 13 lead changes.
Santa Monica fought off two set points in the final set and won the match on an ace serve by Josh Scheib.
“When you have a season as tough as this one, you look at different things,” said coach Armen Zakarian. “It wasn’t about benching the sophomores or grooming the freshmen. We had some turmoil in our last few practices.”
Evan Yoshimoto, in his first extended action of the year, had eight kills as did Aquiles Montoya. Drew Hogan and Corey McDown each had about 20 assists and Nick May, a freshman from San Marcos High, also played well.
The Vaqueros took a 24-21 lead in the second set on a kill by Brand and secured the 25-23 triumph on a putaway by Uno Olsson of Sweden.
“These guys have been working hard and their energy was higher the last couple of practices,” Zakarian explained. “They deserved that time tonight. We had a rag-tag lineup out there and those guys battled very hard. Every set was decided by two points and it was unfortunate we came out on the wrong end.
“Those guys had fun out there and gained a lot of experience.”
The Vaqueros play their final match on Wednesday when Long Beach comes to the Sports Pavilion at 6 p.m.
