The Westmont women’s volleyball team clinched a share of the GSAC regular-season title last week but were disappointed that it was just a share because that meant it would not be the hosts of the conference tournament.
Turns out, that fueled the Warriors as they won their semifinal match against Vanguard in five sets and then beat top-seeded and hosts Menlo in three sets to win the conference tournament title.
Against Vanguard, the Warriors won by set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 25-12, 25-16, 15-10. Senior outside hitter Cassidy Rea led the team in kills with 14 while Lexi Malone added 11 on the inside and Hali Galloway tallied another nine.
Lauren Friis had a team-high 23 digs while Keelyn Kistner had had 19 digs and paced the offense with 26 assists.
Against Menlo, Westmont won by set scores of 25-19, 25-12, 25-15. Again Rea led the team in kills, this time earning 13 while Patty Kerman added 10 and Galloway had eight.
Brooklynn Cheney led the team in digs with 21 and added four kills while Kistner had 25 assists and Syndy Dunn had 15 assists and 10 digs.
With the wins, Westmont earns an automatic berth into the NAIA National Championship. The field and opening-round pairings will be announced on Monday.
UCSB 3, CSUN 0
The UCSB women’s volleyball team snapped its three-game losing skid when it went to CSUN and swept them by set scores of 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.
For head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch, it was her 100th win as the Gauchos head coach.
Lantagne Welch, in the midst of her seventh season at Santa Barbara, earns win No. 100 at the helm of Gauchos, while boasting an overall career record of 343-214 (.616 winning percentage) in 19 seasons (previous 12 at Miami).
UCSB also improved to 20-5, 10-4. The 20 wins are the most for the Gauchos since 2009.
UCSB out-hit the Matadors in every set, and finished with a .248 percentage compared to .175 for CSUN. The Gauchos also recorded more digs (60-52), assists (46-32), and aces (3-1), while the Matadors won the battle at the net with 17 blocks to UCSB’s 13.
Redshirt freshman Tallulah Froley paced the teams’ offense with 13 kills while Rowan Ennis had 12 on the day from the middle. Senior outside hitter Lindsey Ruddins added seven kills. Olivia Lovenberg had 22 assists.
UCSB will play its final two matches of the season at home next weekend.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
PASADENA 35, SBCC 0
SBCC lost its final game of the season on Saturday as the team was shutout on the road against Pasadena.
The Lancers (6-4, 4-1) finished second in the American Pacific League. The Vaqueros (3-7, 2-3) tied for third.
Pasadena piled up 217 yards on the ground and three rushing TDs. Salman Gurung had two of those scores on runs of one and 10 yards. He led PCC with 61 yards on 11 carries.
Pasadena outran the Vaqueros 217 to 27 yards and won the total yardage battle, 325 to 142.
Nazir Hopson and Clarence Dodson Jr. led the Vaquero defense with 10 tackles each. Defensive end Jacob Shultz added nine tackles and 1.5 sacks. Shultz led the APL with 70 tackles and 8.5 sacks.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
WESTMONT 78, CAL LUTHERAN 55
Westmont won its second straight game on Saturday following an impressive 23-point road win against Cal Lutheran.
The Warriors (2-1) had three women score in double figures with Lyree Jarrett leading the bunch with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting which included three makes from long range.
Taylor Rarick scored 12 points on Saturday while Kaitlin Larson scored 11 points and added five rebounds. Stefanie Berberabe added eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
Westmont handed Cal Lutheran a loss in its home opener. Cal Lutheran was led by Mackenzy Iwahashi who had 14 points.
The Warriors will host the Best Western Plus Carpinteria Inn Classic next week beginning with a match against Our Lady of the Lake (Tx.) at 6 p.m. on Friday.
SBCC 85, ANTELOPE VALLEY 81
Jada Forsdick-Stevenson was a perfect 5-5 from the three-point line and scored a season-high 18 points as SBCC outlasted Antelope Valley 85-81 at the Sports Pavilion.
SBCC (4-1) also got help from Jordan Parkhurst who added 17 points and eight rebounds. Parkhurst made 11 of her points from the charity stripe.
Sophia Torres had 14 points on 7-11 shooting and Alondra Jimenez contributed nine points and a season-high 11 assists.
The Vaqueros shot a season-high 53.4 percent, including 8-of-17 (47.1%) from deep.
Tori Kelley, Alyssa De Vries, and Sierra Cavaletto added seven apiece off the bench.
SBCC will play L.A. Valley at 5 p.m. on Thursday at home.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CERRO COSO 81, SBCC 46
Haven Ously scored a game-high 23 points to pace Cerro Cosa to an 81-46 win over SBCC in the Vaqueros’ home opener at the Sports Pavilion. Ously was 5-of-9 from the three-point line on Saturday.
The Coyotes of Ridgecrest (2-1) outshot the Vaqueros 46.9 to 34.6% and took advantage of 26 SBCC turnovers which led to 27 points.
Daniel Arzate led the Vaqueros (0-3) with 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting night which included three shots made from long range. Adrian Juilland-Johnson added seven points, five rebounds, and four assists.
The Vaqueros will play in the Hancock Tournament next weekend, opening against Cypress on Friday at 3 p.m.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO
RIVERSIDE 12, SBCC 7
SBCC 10, CITRUS 5
SBCC fell behind early in its match against Riverside and could not recover losing 12-7. The Vaqueros then played fifth-seeded Citrus and won 10-5 to take third place in the So Cal Regional and finish fifth in the state.
The Vaqueros (30-5) reached 30 wins for the fourth straight year.
Taylor Brooks had three goals and four drawn ejections in the semifinal and poured in five more goals in the third-place game and finished as the state leader and new school record holder with 134 goals.
Madison Wayman had two goals in the third-place game and Zoe Johnson recorded 10 saves after stopping nine shots in the Riverside match.
PREP CROSS COUNTRY
CIF-SS DIVISION 2 PRELIMS
Santa Barbara High participated in the CIF-SS Division 2 cross country prelims at the Riverside Cross Country Course on Saturday.
Senior Jake Ballantine ran a personal best of 15:30 to help lead the boys to a 17th place finish. Ballantine, who finished 14th overall himself, earned a spot in next week’s final as he placed in the Top 15.
“As for Jake, he’s in the Finals for the first time and he definitely earned it. That was a fast, aggressive race and he had to sprint out of a pack chasing those last few spots with 400 meters to go,” Santa Barbara coach Olivia Perdices said.
Amir Walton (83rd, 16:32), Collin Wells (84th, 1632) and Xan Tassos (144th, 17:55) all posted personal bests to finish their season for the Dons.
The girls finished the year taking 22nd in their heat. Elena Everest led Santa Barbara’s finishers with a time of 20:27.
CIF-SS DIVISION 5 PRELIMS
Both Cate’s girls and boys cross country teams qualified for next week’s final after running a good race in the CIF-SS Division 5 Prelims at Riverside.
The Cate girls specifically did really well placing second in their heat and even second overall despite running at just 85% from coaches’ orders.
Sophomore co-captains Anna DiSorbo and Meena Baher led the team by finishing fourth with a time of 19:48 and seventh with a time of 20:00, respectively. Freshman Lylie Bechtel earned 19th place in a time of 21:05.
The boys’ side did just enough to qualify for next week’s final, placing eighth in their heat.
Senior co-captain Tesfa Asmara had another strong race and finished third with a time of 16:50. Sophomore Nick Patrick surged in the last mile and finished 25th in 17:57.
Cate will be back in action next Saturday at Riverside as both teams try to qualify for State. The boys run at 9:30 a.m. while the girls will run at 10:30.
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