Vaqueros Sweep Irvine Valley in Home Opener

By Jimmy Friery

SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Men's Volleyball team won their opening home match on Friday night, beating Irvine Valley in 3 sets.

It was the first home match for first-year head coach Bridget Kulesh, who mentioned the importance of the Vaqueros' sophomores in the win.

"The team was very excited for their first home match of the season, and came into it very focused," head coach Bridget Kulesh said. "I am very happy to see the team chemistry click so early in season. We had 5 sophomores on the court, and I think that experience and leadership really helped us to stay focused, especially when the score was tight."

The first set went to extra points, with the Vaqueros finally earning a huge first set win, 29-27. After that exhale, the team got into a rhythm.

"Our disciplined serve receive enabled our setters to spread out our offense early in the match," Kulesh added.

Setters Gavin Kristic and Rocky Brazier share the praise for that, with 18 and 17 assists, respectively, on the night. Naturally, outside hitters Cole Richards (13 kills) and Andreas Schuetz (9 kills) feasted as a result of that.

The Vaqueros cruised in set two to a 25-15 victory, and finished off Irvine Valley 25-18 in the third set.

"Serving runs by Andreas (5 aces), Cole (3 aces) and libero Gabe Stopani (3 aces) pushed the team ahead of IVC at critical points," Kulesh said.

Gabe Stopani led the team in digs with 6, with Schuetz (5) and Brazier (4) right behind him. Griffin Hurd had 4 blocks, Richards had 3, and Cameron Brown, Troy Fitzgerald, and Evan Thompson each had 2.

The Vaqueros (1-1) look to start a win streak at Fullerton, Wednesday night at 6:00 PM.