The Santa Barbara City College Women’s Volleyball team hosted the SBCC Tri on Saturday at Robertson Gym, welcoming Saddleback and Pasadena. The young Vaqueros had a difficult time sustaining momentum, dropping both of their matches 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.

The Vaqueros spent the previous day winning both of their matches at the Hartnell Tri in Salinas, not getting home until late Friday night. Ultimately, they played four matches in a 27-hour span—something that they won’t have to do the rest of the season.

“I don’t like to give them excuses but there is a little bit of fatigue. We played two matches yesterday; I knew I was scheduling tough when I scheduled this weekend,” Head Coach Kat Niksto said.

Furthermore, this is a team still getting to know each other in a volleyball sense. Juliette Dekker and Isabella Lopez-Gonzalez are the only two players from last year’s team that played during the weekend.

“It’s ironic because they communicate so well off the court. They’re very bonded and get along really well,” Niksto said. “But they’re still learning how to communicate on the court.”

Saddleback 3, SBCC 1 (25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 26-24)

Saturday’s first match against Saddleback started off in a tough spot for the Vaqueros, trailing 8-3. They rallied back to a 9-8 deficit, but Saddleback reestablished breathing room at 16-10. They cruised the rest of the set to a 25-19 opening win.

Set two was all Saddleback. The visitors rattled off a 7-0 run after the Vaqueros won the first point, forcing an early timeout. Santa Barbara never really got into the set, and found themselves down in a 2-0 hole.

But they showed resilience in the third. After 17-12 Vaqueros, Saddleback stormed back to take a 20-19 lead, five points from a sweep. The Vaqueros did not let that happen, going on a 5-1 run from there and ultimately winning 25-23 to force a fourth set.

Osby Judd-Wade continued the momentum early in the set with a nice serving run to put the Vaqueros ahead 6-2. Mya Pinkert later followed that up with back-to-back aces, making it 13-6. However, it was not smooth sailing from there—the end of the set was marked by a few surprising runs.

With Santa Barbara leading 21-16, Saddleback rattled off four in a row to get back into the set. The Vaqueros then settled things down, going on a 3-0 run of their own, and forcing set point up 24-20. It looked like a decisive fifth set was coming, but Saddleback remarkably clinched it on a 6-0 run, winning 26-24 to end the match.

Pinkert led the team with 11 kills on 26 attempts. Makeleta Leilani Stepp had seven total blocks (one solo), and Lopez-Gonzalez had 20 digs. Setter Addi Miller had 12 digs and Aubrielle LaPointe had 11.

Pasadena 3, SBCC 0 (25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 26-24)

The Vaqueros had the benefit of a short rest as Saddleback and Pasadena played each other in the middle match of the day.

With first serve around 6:30 p.m., the Vaqueros trailed 6-3 before Mayla Saldana subbed in and went on a 4-0 serving run to give the hosts an early lead. The rest of the set remained close—an ace from Lopez-Gonzalez made it 19-17 Vaqueros.

Pasadena went on a short run from there, though, but Judy-Wade and LaPointe responded with a block and kill, respectively, on back-to-back points to tie the score at 21. Unfortunately, for the Vaqueros, Pasadena won the next four points to take a 1-0 lead.

In set two, Pasadena started out with an 11-6 lead. Aces from Lopez-Gonzalez and Pinkert allowed the Vaqueros to crawl back to a two-point deficit at 18-16. Eventually, the Vaqueros would get as close as 20-19 Pasadena, but they never caught up to their solid opponents, who won the set 25-21.

It was a somewhat similar story in the third set. Pasadena went on a 6-0 run midway through to turn 13-11 Vaqueros into 17-13 Pasadena. The Vaqueros nearly caught up—Miller’s ace made it 23-22—but Pasadena again won 25-22 to clinch the match.

Lopez-Gonzalez had 22 digs—42 total on the day and 84 over the weekend.

“Lots of learning and lots more opportunities to grow and get better. The good news is we get to play again on Wednesday,” Niksto concluded. “We can’t be happy with where we’re at now. We have to continue to push and grow, and that’s the long-term plan.”

The Vaqueros stay at home, playing El Camino on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Robertson Gym.