SBCC played its first five-set match of the year on Friday night and the Vaqueros were one point away from victory. But that point never came as Cuesta erased a 14-12 deficit by scoring the last four points in a 16-14 fifth-set win at the Sports Pavilion.
The scores of the WSC North women's volleyball match were 17-25, 25-23, 25-9, 21-25, 16-14.
The Vaqueros (6-10, 2-2) trailed 10-7 in the fifth set, then went on a 5-0 run thanks to three kills by Madi Mullins and an ace from Gabi Brewer. SBCC took a 14-12 lead when Lauren Holsted's two-hand push trickled off the tape and down on the Cuesta side.
The Cougars (10-5, 3-1) weren't going down, however, as middle blocker Morgan Krause hit one off the block and Savannah Bohna added a kill to tie it at 14. Then Maddie Honeycutt took over with a kill from the back row and an ace on match point.
"I told the girls there's nothing I'm going to say that can make them feel any better," said coach Kat Niksto. "It sucks to lose and especially when up by two with match point. I honestly think this match was not won or lost in the last two points.
"We controlled the ball so well in the first set and then we let them off the hook in set two. If we win the second set, it's a completely different match. We gave them a little breath of air and they took it."
Mullins led the Vaqueros with 13 kills while Brewer had 12 kills and nine digs. Makenzie Phelps pounded eight kills and Holsted, a freshman outside hitter from Bishop Diego High, added seven kills and a season-high 23 digs.
The Vaqueros were up 16-14 in set No. 1, then closed on a 9-3 burst. There were 16 ties and nine lead changes in the second set. Cuesta broke a 23-all tie on a soft bump kill by Honeycutt and a double contact by the Vaqueros.
The third set was all Cuesta as the Cougars stormed ahead 13-1 and led 16-4 and 22-6 before posting a 25-9 win. The Vaqueros used a 9-6 run to take control in set 4. Holsted steered a spike near the back line and SBCC was up 21-17. A smash in the middle by Mullins and a hard-driven kill by Holsted capped the 25-21 triumph.
"I'm really proud of the way we fought back in set 4 and we battled in set 5," said Niksto. "When you get yourself in that situation where every little point counts and maybe they're in a good rotation and you're not or vice versa or a trickle drops over the net. You don't want to put yourself in that situation. You want to be controlling the game and we didn't do a good enough job from start to finish.
"It would be nice to win to get validated but we did a lot of learning and growing tonight. But we still don't know how to play a full match from start to finish. Against good teams, they're not going to let you get away with just playing good here and there.
"We dominated in the first set, we were serving, getting them out of system and killing balls. I haven't looked yet but my guess is our hitting percentage went downhill from there. If you can't terminate the ball throughout an entire match, you're going to make it a lot more difficult on yourself."
The Vaqueros will travel to No. 8 Moorpark on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
