SBCC piled up 29 aces on Saturday and registered its first two women’s volleyball wins of the season in its own quad tournament. The Vaqueros beat Cerritos 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-20, 25-17) and cruised past Contra Costa 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-6) in 55 minutes.
Santa Barbara is 2-4 on the year.
Kate Richardson, a 6-foot middle blocker from Sammamish, Wash., led the way in the first match vs. Cerritos with a career-high 14 kills, a .545 hitting percentage and three blocks. Jenny Sims added nine kills, Grace Trocki had eight and Kenzie Garrison contributed seven kills, eight digs and six of her team’s 15 ace serves.
Setter Danielle Hewitt added 44 assists and four aces while Emma Esparza had 12 digs.
“It feels great to get our first two wins,” said Richardson. “We’ve been working really hard the last week and we played like we practiced.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of redshirts are playing this year. Our team has great chemistry and that pulled us through.”
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the second set against Contra Costa on an ace by Jazz Hill. They capped the 25-11 win on an ace by Sims and a kill in the middle by Richardson.
SBCC led 7-5 in the third set, then broke it open with a 9-0 run. Garrison crushed a spike to make it 10-5 and Hill served five straight aces to push it to 15-5. Lexi Michaelson served an ace on match point to complete the 25-6 rout.
“It feels very good to get our first two Ws,” said coach Ed Gover, who’s starting his 28th season. “We played steady vs. Cerritos. We had our ups and downs but the passing got a little bit better and the serving got better.
“Dani, our freshman setter, is starting to settle in and find our middles. Kate Richardson had a great match vs. Cerritos. Everything is getting a little better, step by step.”
The Vaqueros will complete a five-game homestand on Saturday when they host No. 8 Grossmont at 2 p.m.