Keoni Thiim collected a season-high 21 kills and 10 digs on Friday night as No. 4 SBCC upset No. 2 El Camino 3-2 in a WSC men's volleyball match in Torrance. The scores were 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 16-14.
The Vaqueros (5-2, 2-0) have won five in a row, beating No. 1 Orange Coast and No. 2 El Camino along the way. It was their third 3-2 win in the last four matches. It was also their first win over El Camino in at least seven years.
SBCC jumped ahead 6-1 in the fifth set on an ace by Aaron Letvin that capped a five-point scoring run. The Vaqueros went up 12-8 on a kill by Trent Lingruen, then the Warriors (5-3, 0-2) rallied with a 6-1 run and had match point at 14-13. Sanborn notched a kill to tie it at 14 and Santa Barbara reeled off the last three points to win it. Sanborn tooled a spike off the block from the right side to complete the 3-2 triumph.
Thiim, the high-flying Hawaiian, hit .436. Sanborn added 13 kills and Lingruen had 11. Luke Hetherington had four kills and seven blocks while Kyle Merchen dished out 41 assists and picked up 10 digs.
Gabriel Vargas-Featherstone paced El Camino with 21 kills and Luke Grafton had 19 digs.
"There were a lot of ups and downs but we played well at the end when it mattered," said fourth-year SBCC coach Jon Newton.
The Vaqueros will play six of the next seven at home, starting Wednesday when L.A. Pierce visits the Sports Pavilion at 6 p.m.
