SBCC ran into an old rival on Saturday night in the championship of the L.A. Pierce Kickoff Classic women's volleyball tournament in Woodland Hills.
The Vaqueros took a 2-1 lead on Pierce before falling in an epic five-set match 3-2. The scores were 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9.
Shannon Friend, a 6-foot freshman from Sonora, led the Vaqueros (3-1) with 12 kills while Katelynn Womack had 11 kills and 10 digs. Shiloe Parsons also had a double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs. Sydney Kantor made 17 digs and delivered three aces. Raleigh McKinney added 11 digs and four aces.
"We really battled and were neck and neck the whole way," said assistant coach Lisa Gera. "It's good to play high-level competition in the preseason to see what skills we need to work on and perfect in practice.
"We love our rich tradition and rivalry with Pierce and always look forward to competing with them for the conference title."
SBCC took on Palomar in the semifinals earlier Saturday and rallied for a 24-26, 28-26, 25-9, 25-23 victory.
Friend had a season-high 13 kills in the Palomar match and hit .429. Tristen Thompson posted a triple-double with 10 kills (.321 hitting percentage), 12 digs and 19 assists. Womack had eight kills and 10 digs while Kantor contributed 10 digs and four aces. McKinney had five of her team's 14 aces.
The Vaqueros will make their home debut on Thursday, Sept. 3, vs. Capilano University of Canada, starting at 6 p.m. All home matches in all fall sports will be live streamed on the Vaquero Broadcasting Network.
