Santa Barbara City College Men’s Volleyball has enjoyed a strong 2024-25 campaign and is currently in the midst of a 3C2A State Championship run.
After going 15-7 in the regular season, the No. 5-seeded Vaqueros opened up their playoff run with a five-set victory over Moorpark College, the No. 4 seed, last week, 25-11, 21-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-13.
They will now take on top-seeded Golden West in the 3C2A State Championship Semifinals on Thursday at Orange Coast College at 5 p.m.
When the two teams met in February, Golden West (21-2) came away with a sweep.
In the win over Moorpark, SBCC got a balanced offensive attack as Tom Altankhuyag (15), Markus Krupp (12), Franky Fainga (11), Keegan Hubbard (10) and Nick Schultz (10) all ended with double-digit kills.
Meanwhile, setters Rocky Brazier and Henry Carlin combined for 63 assists with 34 and 29, respectively. Libero Luke Steinert collected 19 digs.
The Vaqueros, playing under second-year head coach Bridget Kulesh, are in the semifinals for the first time since 2005 and are searching for the program’s second state championship. The first came in 1983.