The Moorpark College Raiders volleyball team pulled out the brooms and started sweeping, defeating Santa Barbara City College in three sets (30-24, 33-31, 30-21) Wednesday night at Moorpark Pavilion.
Coach Steve Burkhart was very pleased with his team’s performance tonight on the hardwood.
“I’m proud of the way the kids responded,” Burkhart said. “We did a great job out there against an athletic team that did not quit.”
After tonight’s performance, Burkhart had every reason to be pleased with a team who came out to play. Sophomore leader and middle blocker Sean Martin had an outstanding performance with 19 blocks, along with six kills to lead the Raiders, while setter Adam Quinn had 26 assists and one ace.
Santa Barbara City College’s Max Acker deOliveira added seven kills and five blocks for the Vaqueros (4-7, 0-4 WSC) in a losing effort.
The Vaqueros had some fight in them, forcing the Raiders to spark comebacks in games one and two respectively. In game one, SBCC took a 14-11 before the Raiders outscored them 13-7 to take a 24-21 lead. The Raiders sealed the deal with Chris Trauger’s block on a kill, winning the first match 30-24.
Moorpark College was put to the test in the second match, with Santa Barbara quickly gaining a 16-11 lead on Moorpark.
Once again, however, Moorpark stormed back cutting the lead to 17-16, and eventually tying the game at 22 apiece. Adam Quinn’s tip-back over the net put the Raiders up 27-25, and an SBCC kill sailed out of bounds giving Moorpark a 33-31 victory in the second match.
In the third match, the Raiders stepped up their game, and did not hesitate to pull out their brooms and start sweeping. Moorpark jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead in the early going, but SBCC still had some fight in them.
The Vaqueros cut the lead to 17-13 and 20-16 respectively, but were never able to climb back any closer, falling 30-21 in the third match on a Jacob Haines kill.
Martin played a key inside presence, blocking many Santa Barbara attacks on the net.
The 6′ 9″ Buena High graduate was the first to compliment solid back row play for his success up front.
“The back row dug lots of balls for us,” Martin said. “We were able to pick it up in game three and pull out with the win.”
Burkhart noticed the brutal schedule coming up for Moorpark, which includes two road games at conference rivals Long Beach City College and L.A. Pierce, and feels this will be Moorpark’s true test for the season.
“We have a brutal schedule coming up,” Burkhart said. “We have to respond and do a good job, which allows us the opportunity to hopefully do the right things.”
Moorpark’s sweep over Santa Barbara City College improved their record to 10-1, including a 3-1 mark in WSC play.
The Vaqueros lost their fourth straight game, falling to 4-7 on the season and still winless (0-4) in WSC play.
The Raiders begin their brutal schedule next week by traveling to Long Beach next Wednesday, March 25, hoping to avenge their only conference loss of the season.
The Vaqueros hope to gain their first WSC victory when they travel to L.A. Pierce in a Friday night match-up on March 20.
