SBCC opened its women's volleyball season with a pair of wins on Friday on the first day of L.A. Pierce Kickoff Classic in Woodland Hills. The Vaqueros swept Palomar 25-17, 25-23, 25-7, then downed Pasadena 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 19-25, 25-21) in a quarterfinal match of the eight-team tournament.
Carolyn Andrulis, a 5-9 outside hitter from Las Vegas, led the way in the Palomar match with 10 kills. Shannon Friend, who piled up 356 kills last year, added eight kills and hit .350. Claire Bagdasar had 12 digs and two aces for the Vaqueros, who outhit the Comets .263 to minus .034.
Friend pounded 19 kills in the win over PCC with a .471 percentage while Andrulis had a double-double with 12 kills and 17 digs. Middle blocker Isabella Thompson added nine kills and hit .412. Setter Kiana Pisula had 42 assists and Hillary Bean dealt three aces.
"Shannon played tremendously against Pasadena, moving the ball around to different hitting zones and making it hard for the defense to make adjustments," said assistant coach Lisa Gera. "It was good for our young team to be challenged and face some adversity early in the season."
The Vaqueros will take on the host L.A. Pierce in the semifinals on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. SBCC will play again at 6:30 for either the championship or third place.
