Anderson guides Vaqueros into Regional finals

Jenna Anderson drilled 15 kills with 18 digs and six blocks on Saturday night as No. 4 SBCC survived a tough battle with No. 12 Pasadena to post a 3-2 victory in the second round of the Southern Cal Regional women's volleyball playoffs.

Jasmine Ward had 17 kills and Madison Waddell added 14 in the 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 27-29, 15-13 triumph that lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes at the Sports Pavilion. It was the 12^th straight win for the Vaqueros (19-7), who moved into the Regional Finals on Tuesday at No. 1 seed Irvine Valley.

"I'm happy with the way we finished every game strong," said Anderson, a 5-11 sophomore from Lake Forest, Calif. "They fought hard, we just fought harder. We wanted it more."

Noralia To'omalatai led the Lancers (15-10) with 25 kills and 16 digs.

Kristy Kearney had 11 kills and hit .300 for Santa Barbara. Fellow middle hitter Taylor Badois added seven kills and six blocks, including two solo. Setter Madelon Leiphardt had 61 assists and 10 digs.

Eryn Young had 20 digs and Lara Bangs 17. Jane Petricka had three aces.

Pasadena, which lost to the Vaqueros 3-0 early in the year, jumped ahead 20-10 in the opening set. Ari Garner came in at setter and led a 9-2 charge that pulled the Vaqueros within three at 22-19. Briana Hilton had a kill and a block to cap Pasadena's 25-19 win.

Santa Barbara built leads of 6-2, 12-6 and 19-11 in the second set behind strong play from Anderson and Kearney. The third set was tight early with eight ties in the first 18 points. The home team broke away on an ace by Petricka, a kill by Anderson, a Pasadena error, a sharp-angle spike by Ward and a block by Ward and Badois that made it 20-14. A booming kill by Waddell and a Kearney block ended the set in SBCC's favor, 25-19.

"It was a great college match, both teams battled their hearts out," said coach Ed Gover. "Nora (on Pasadena) is very, very smart with her shot selection and the precision of her shots. Not too many have a great roll shot like hers.

"They played great defense and so did we. I saw some crazy digs tonight."

The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair with 21 ties and lots of lead changes. The Vaqueros got to match point twice at 24-23 and 25-24 but couldn't finish the deal. To'omalatai finally ended the 29-27 marathon with an ace serve.

SBCC jumped up 6-3 in the fifth and deciding set when a kill by Ward ended the longest and most exciting rally of the night. After making the side change with an 8-7 advantage, the Vaqueros rolled off four straight points to make it 12-7.

The Lancers came back to cut it to one at 13-12 before the Vaqueros ended it on a block by Anderson and Badois, followed shortly by a tip from Anderson that went backward off a Lancer defender.

"I saw the block up and I thought 'I'm just going to keep this ball in play,' " said Anderson, of her match-winning shot. "The line digger was back and I hadn't done that throughout the match. I just said, 'Let's see what happens.' "

What happened was the tip shot secured a thrilling 3-2 victory and the Vaqueros' first trip to the Regional Finals since the format changed from eight teams in the State Finals to four a few years ago.

The winner of Tuesday's match will advance to the four-team State Finals on Dec. 7-8 at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.