Citrus Takes Santa Barbara to Four

Citrus College shook off a rough second set to force four sets with Santa Barbara City College Wednesday night but couldn't pull off the come-from-behind victory. The Vaqueros, who have only lost two matches this season, took the match 3-1 on scores of 25-17, 25-7, 24-26, 25-12.

The Owls drop to 4-6 on the year while the Vaqueros move to 10-2.

Delaney Tate continued to lead the Owl offense and finished the night with eight kills, followed by Faith Evaro with seven kills. Evaro also had her hands in four blocks for Citrus. Tate added 12 digs, while Alexis Aguayo and Evelyn Enriquez each contributed another 11.

Santa Barbara jumped out to a 2-0 match lead after hitting at a .281 percent in the first set and an impressive .632 in the second. The Vaqueros committed just one error between the two frames, while holding Citrus to a -.280 clip in the second.

The Owls shook off the second set, however, and opened the third with the first three points off a kill from Kalin Greene, an ace from Aguayo and a combo block from Greene and Evaro.

After the Vaqueros evened the set at 4-4, Greene sparked another spurt as Citrus scored four unanswered points to create some separation, 8-4. Tate had back-to-back kills in the run, which was capped by an ace from Enriquez.

The Owls grabbed their highest lead of the night, 15-8, to force Santa Barbara to call a timeout. The Vaqueros kept battling and managed to tie the set at 21-21 and even took the lead 23-22 to force an Owl timeout.

Citrus came out of the break and scored two-straight points to reach set point first. Santa Barbara responded with a point, but back-to-back errors from the visitors handed the Owls the 26-24 set win.

Determined to not go to five, the Vaqueros opened the fourth set on a 5-1 run to jump out in front early. The visitors saw their lead grow to 23-10 before the Owls made some key stops on defense to keep the set going.

It didn't last long, however, as Santa Barbara put the match away with the 25-12 set victory.

Citrus remains at home, hosting Mt. San Jacinto on Friday for a midday matchup.