Calvin Sanborn racked up 16 kills and a .591 hitting percentage on Friday night, leading No. 6 SBCC to a 3-0 men's volleyball win over No. 7 Santiago Canyon. The scores of the non-conference match in the Sports Pavilion were 25-23, 29-27, 25-21.
Santa Barbara (7-3) won for the fourth time in five games. The Hawks fell to 7-4.
Sanborn's .591 percentage was his second-highest of the year. He leads the state in kills (160) and he's second in kills per set (4.10).
"We were in control for most of the night but we made too many unforced errors and too many serving errors," said Sanborn, a 6-4 freshman left-hander from Santa Cruz. "It was good to win that second set, you don't want to lose a long one like that."
After trailing by as many as three points in the opening set, the Vaqueros took control with an 8-4 run capped by a kill from Trent Lingruen that made it 19-16. The Hawks got within one at 22-21 and 24-23 before Sanborn capped the win with a kill from the left side.
There were 19 ties and 12 lead changes in the second set, which was the longest of the year for the Vaqueros. The Vaqueros were denied three times on set points and Santiago Canyon had a set point at 27-26 but Sanborn slammed one to tie it up. A block by SBCC set up a fourth set point and Lingruen ripped one off the top of the block for the 29-27 triumph.
The Vaqueros managed to win Set 2 despite nine service errors and just one ace.
Lingruen and Blake Lockhart had eight kills apiece with Lockhart hitting .500. Aaron Letvin played his second straight match at setter and opposite. He handed out 13 assists while making seven kills, three blocks and three aces. Peyton Raab added 15 assists and two aces.
In the third set, the Vaqueros built leads of 11-7, 15-11 and 21-17 on an ace by Letvin.
Chayton Clark led in digs with 13 and he ended the match with a soft rainbow from the 10-foot line that landed in the middle of the Hawks' court. When asked what he called that shot, Clark replied, "Lucky."
"We played well, although we were a little streaky with a few errors here and there," said Vaquero coach Jon Newton. "But we never faltered or lost our rhythm. We tried running a 6-2 (with 2 setters) this game because we have a lot of talented guys who can do a lot of things.
"Aaron came to us as an opposite and now he's setting. We want to see how he can do as a hitter, so we're looking at the different options we have. That's a good team that we just beat in three."
Things got a little chippy between the teams at times and there were several discussions with the referees.
"Their coaches like to talk and it really fired up the guys and gave us a lot of energy," said Sanborn. "We're getting excited for tomorrow's game, it's going to be the biggest one of the year."
The Vaqueros will host No. 1 and undefeated Orange Coast (14-0) on Saturday night at 6:10 p.m. and admission is free. There will be a ceremony at 6 p.m. to honor women's volleyball coach Ed Gover, who's retiring after an outstanding 28-year career.
Orange Coast has 10 sweeps this year and the Pirates lead the state in hitting at .373. The Vaqueros are No. 2 at .310.
