The SBCC women’s volleyball team lost a heart-breaking five-set match at Orange Coast in the SoCal Regional semifinals on Saturday.
In a nearly 2 1/2-hour battle, the Vaqueros fell 26-28, 26-24, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13. Orange Coast (21-5) advances to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships in Fresno. SBCC ends its season at 16-11
Caroline McCarty pounded 19 kills to lead the Vaqueros.
After dropping the third set, Santa Barbara regrouped and went on an 8-2 run to grab a 16-9 advantage. OCC got to within four, but the Vaqueros closed things out with a 5-2 run to even the match and send things to a winner-take-all fifth set.
Neither team carried a lead bigger than two points throughout the final set as McCarty and OCC’s Brisa Zapata-Reaves continually traded kills.
With the set tied at 11, a pair of Zapata-Reaves kills gave OCC a 13-11 lead, forcing SBCC into a timeout.
Heidi Collins had a kill for Santa Barbara to make it 13-12 and had a swing to even things up, but Paige Cutwright of OCC came up with a big block to put the Pirates up, 14-12
Another SBCC kill brought the Vaqueros to within one at 14-13. After an OCC timeout, the next Santa Barbara serve sailed long and that ended the match.
Match information from Orange Coast College Sports Information Department