Friend guides Vaqueros past four-year Capilano, 3-1

It took a while for SBCC to get going in its women's volleyball home opener on Thursday night but once the Vaqueros found their rhythm, there was no stopping 'em.

They topped Capilano University, a four-year school from British Columbia, Canada, 3-1 after dropping a long first set. The scores were 27-29, 25-16, 25-19, 25-16.

Outside hitter Shannon Friend got hot early in the second set, posting six of her team-high 15 kills as the Vaqueros (4-1) stormed out to leads of 9-4, 13-6 and 21-10. Friend hit .364 for the match. Katelynn Womack added 13 kills and a .429 hitting clip while Hannah Cantrell drilled 10 kills and hit .474.

"We knew we made a lot of errors in that first set and it was our focus to cut down on those errors," said Friend, a 6-foot freshman from Sonora. "We had fewer mistakes in the second set and we smashed them.

"We started fighting and playing competitively. We really kept our energy up."

The Vaqueros hit a season-best .319 as a team.

Tristen Thompson had a season-high 26 digs as the libero and also led in aces with four. Raleigh McKinney added 12 digs.

"We got off to a slow start in the serving department, missing about five serves and we couldn't get any rhythm whatsoever," said Ed Gover, who's starting his 25th year as head coach. "Toward the end of the set, we started playing better, passing better and our serves were keeping us in the game. It was nice to see us bounce back after all those errors.

"Shannon really took over in that second set but it's a credit to Shiloe (Parsons) for giving her the right type of sets."

SBCC trailed by a point midway through the third set, then went on a 9-4 run and took a 20-16 lead on a kill down the line by Cantrell. The fourth set was a tight, back-and-forth affair and Gover called timeout with his team trailing 14-13.

Alissa La Rocca made a left-handed kill and Friend added two more, igniting a 12-2 burst to end the match. A block by Cantrell made it 24-15 and the match ended on another block by Cantrell and Parsons.

"We had a little energy drop in the fourth set and we just had to remind ourselves to play at a high level with energy," said Gover. "Our girls came together and got that separation to win."

 Gover said it was great for the program to play a four-year school the caliber of Capilano and play well.

"We came in composed and we weren't overwhelmed by a four-year school," he stated. "We really steadied out. Katelynn Womack and Tristen Thompson, the two captains of the team, were a steady force out there."

SBCC returns to action on Saturday at the Bakersfield Quad, where it will face Bakersfield at 10 a.m. and Antelope Valley at 2:30 p.m.