Anya Nicolaides and Victoria Dafos rallied to post three-set wins at No. 3 and No. 4 singles to fuel SBCC’s 5-4, women’s tennis comeback victory at Irvine Valley on Tuesday.
Nicolaides and Dafos got the Vaqueros off on the right foot, combining in doubles to sweep the No. 2 match, 8-0. Irvine Valley won the other two matches, and the doubles point, however, which included a tiebreaker victory at No. 3.
SBCC’s comeback began with Jule Lauinger and Maddie Mitchell posting straight-set wins at No. 5 and 6 singles, reducing its deficit to 4-3.
Nicolaides, a freshman from South Pasadena, tied the team match with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 comeback win at No. 3 singles. Dafos, a freshman from Spain, won the game-winning fifth point by rallying past Briggett Lee 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
The Vaqueros will travel to Riverside for a 2 p.m. match on Friday and then host San Diego City on Saturday at 11 a.m.
WOMEN’S SOFTBALL
TAFT 2-15, SBCC 1-5
Taft rallied late to edge SBCC 2-1 in the Vaqueros’ softball home opener on Tuesday, then erupted for 11 runs in the first two innings of a 15-5 win in the nightcap at Pershing Park.
Freshman Paige Powell from San Marcos blanked Taft on four hits through the first five innings of the opener. She also scored the game’s first run in the second when she singled to left, went to third on a double by Shelby Featherston, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kayana Diaz. But SBCC’s only other hit in the game was a double by Samantha Yanes.
Two unearned runs — one in the sixth and another in the seventh — enabled Taft (3-3) to rally for the win. The Vaqueros were held to just three hits and four baserunners.
“Paige threw very well for us,” coach Justine Bosio said. “I told the girls, ‘Anytime you can hold a team to one run through six innings, you’ll have a great chance to win.’
“We definitely need to do a better job of making adjustments on the fly.”
SBCC allowed nine unearned runs in the nightcap while committing six errors. Featherston went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored while Hannah Weaver also went 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI. Mia Carranza added a run-scoring single while Emilyh Lone Tree went 1-for-1 with a pair of walks.
