Middle hitters, 12 aces propel Vaqueros to 3-0 sweep

SBCC's middle hitters combined for 14 kills and four solo blocks on Wednesday and the Vaqueros served 12 aces in a 25-18, 25-14, 25-16 sweep of Hancock at the Sports Pavilion.

Kate Richardson recorded eight kills, a .312 hitting percentage and two blocks to help the Vaqueros improve to 7-11 overall and 3-3 in the WSC North. Hancock fell to 1-15 and 0-6.

Grace Trocki added six kills, 13 digs and two blocks in the Halloween night affair. Hayley Johnson came off the bench at 21-13 in the second set and finished with four kills, an ace and a .285 percentage.

Johnson, a freshman outside hitter from Colorado Springs, has played in the last three matches, after missing 13 matches with an injury.

"It felt good to be back on the court," said Johnson, after her first home appearance. "Recovering from an injury is always difficult. It felt good to play again and have some success.

"We started a little slow and it was hard to get back to our normal pace. Toward the end, we definitely got back to playing our kind of volleyball."
 Ashley Albee had a match-high 14 digs and three aces while Lexi Michaelson served a season-best four aces. Danielle Hewitt added three aces and 23 assists.

The Vaqueros erased an 11-9 deficit in the first set with a 7-1 run. They were up 17-16 when Jacque Ortegon pounded a kill on a backset from Hewitt, igniting an 8-2 run to cap the 25-16 triumph. Albee got her first ace on set point.

Santa Barbara snapped a 9-9 tie with an 11-3 burst in the second set that gave the Vaqueros a commanding 20-12 advantage. An ace by Johnson made it 23-14, then the Bulldogs served wide and Trocki ended the 25-14 win with a kill in the middle.

"Our goal tonight was to execute in our transition game," said veteran coach Ed Gover. "We wanted to make sure that as we got the ball back, we were running the middle. We did a pretty good job with Grace and Kate. All season long, that's where our main scoring is coming from.

"We hustled and played hard tonight. Hayley's had a nagging injury for most of the year and it was nice to her come in and get a few kills in the third set. She's one of the best servers we have, so it was good to see her in the lineup."

Emma Esparza had an outstanding one-arm dig at 19-11 in the third set. Michaelson sprinted into the Vaquero bench to retrieve an errant dig at 24-13. Kenzie Garrison ended the 78-minute match with her fourth kill off a back-row defender.

The Vaqueros have two matches remaining – Friday at Cuesta at 6 p.m. and next Wednesday in their home finale against No. 11 Moorpark, also at 6 p.m.