SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Women's Volleyball team fell to Ventura at home Friday night, 3 sets to 1. The loss puts the Vaqueros at 7-2 in conference play with one game remaining.
The last home game of the regular season, SBCC hosted a pregame ceremony for Sophomore Night—sophomores Sophie Ward, Gabby Russell, Heidi Collins, Callahan Rule, Celia Espinoza, Alexis (Birdie) Zevenbergen, and Jillian Zimmerman were honored.
"The night started out with a wonderful dedication to our 7 sophomores who have all poured their hearts into our program, and for whom we are so grateful," head coach Kat Niksto said.
"After that however, the night got much more difficult," Niksto continued. "Credit to Ventura who was able to keep our offense off balance all night long, and especially to their libero [Autumn Rojelio] who seemingly was able to cover the entire court defensively."
Ventura came out swinging in the first set, taking an early lead that snowballed into a big one, winning it 25-10.
Set two began similarly to the first, with Ventura holding a 10-5 lead into a Santa Barbara timeout. SBCC then rattled off 5 straight, thanks to Nevaeh Tillet's solid serving, capturing some momentum and evening the score at 10-10. Both teams traded points to 18-17 Ventura, but Ventura pulled away again to a 25-19 victory.
With their backs against the wall, the Vaqueros found some fire, forcing the first Ventura timeout of the night at 8-6 SBCC in the third set. Ventura looked to regroup by taking another timeout at 17-13 SBCC, and the home fans could start to feel the renewed Vaquero energy. SBCC continued to play strong to a 23-17 lead, but 4 in a row from Ventura made it 23-21 SBCC. Kira Little finished off the set with a kill shortly after, and the Vaqueros forced a fourth set, 25-22.
In the fourth set, the Vaqueros hung around to 15-10 deficit, but Ventura pulled away from there. The final score was 25-10, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17.
"Ultimately, while we were able to rally and take a set off Ventura, we weren't in rhythm all night long," Niksto said.
Heidi Collins led the team in kills with 9, while Kira Little added 7. Nevaeh Tillet and Alexis (Birdie) Zevenbergen had 5 apiece.
"I thought Chaya Clemons had a particularly good night, coming in and getting some huge blocks against Ventura's biggest attacker," Niksto added.
The 5'9" Clemons fired up her teammates, and the big crowd on-hand, getting up for 3 blocks in critical moments.
"Our defensive specialists Gabby Russell and Celia Espinoza both were solid in their serve receive passing," Niksto said. Russell led the team in digs with 14.
Natalie Lercari-Sullivan and Sophie Ward set up their teammates with 20 and 11 assists, respectively.
The Vaqueros are now in a three-way tie at the top of the WSC-North standings with Ventura and Moorpark. They will look to bounce back in their final conference match on the road at Cuesta on Wednesday.
