The Volleyball Playoff Preview: Regional Round #1

For the second straight year, the Citrus College Volleyball program has qualified for the CCCAA Southern California Playoffs. The Owls were named the #13 seed overall and will head to #4 Santa Barbara City College. The match is set for a 6:00 PM start.

About The Matchup
Tuesday evening's meeting between Citrus College and Santa Barbara City College will be the fifth overall since the 2006 season, and the first in the post-season in that span. Santa Barbara is 3-1 in the previous four meetings including three straight. In addition, the Vaqueros are 2-1 against the Owls in Santa Barbara.

About the Vaqueros
Santa Barbara City College earned the #4 seed in the Southern California Regional Playoffs, after going 17-7 overall and splitting the Western State Conference North Division Championship with Los Angeles Pierce College at 11-1. The Vaqueros have won 10 straight headed into the post-season and are 30-3 in sets in that current streak.

Santa Barbara boasts an impressive front row, in sophomore outside hitter Madison Waddell (253 kills, .252 Kill%), sophomore right side hitter Jenna Anderson (242 kills, 42 blocks), and sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Ward (200 kills, .248 Kill%). Freshman setter Madelon Leiphardt handed out 485 assists on the year, while freshman libero Eryn Young averaged 3.67 digs per set.

Last Time Out
The Owls head into the post-season winners of seven of their last nine, including a straight set sweep of Antelope Valley College in their regular season finale last Wednesday. Freshman outside hitter Danielle Hundley had a team high 13 kills, while sophomore setter Amanda Stone handed out 27 assists.

Owls In the Post-Season
This is Citrus College's fourth appearance in the California Community College Athletic Association Playoffs since the 2000 season. In that span, Citrus is 2-3 in the playoffs. The Owls qualified for the post-season in back to back years in 2005 and 2006, winning their first round game, before losing in the second round. Citrus also qualified for the post-season last year, travelling to #4 Orange Coast College. The shorthanded Owls, fell in straight sets 21, 17, and 15. Current sophomore Amanda Stone had 23 assists in the loss, and current sophomore Ana Bui had four kills and four digs.

Unlucky 13
Since the 2001 season, #13 seeds haven't had the luckiest of times in the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Playoffs. Team seeded 13th are just 2-10 against #4 seeds. The only two wins in that span, have come thanks to Cypress College in 2008 and College of the Canyons in 2004. In the 2008 season, the Chargers were originally seeded #10, but were moved down to #13 to avoid a first round conference match-up. That makes Canyons the only legitimate 13 over a 4 in the last 12 years.

Owls Against the WSC North
As a member of the Western State Conference South Division, Citrus College has a healthy history with the Western State Conference North Division. Tuesday night's contest will be the 29th meeting between Citrus College and a team from that conference, and the fifth this year. Since 2006, the Owls are 15-13 overall against teams from the other side, and 53-44 in total set scores. On the road, Citrus is just 8-7 against WSC North schools. This year, Citrus went 3-1 against teams from the North winning nine out of 13 sets.

How To Follow
There are two ways to follow Tuesday evenings contest. The first is to attend in person at Santa Barbara City College. General Admission is $10 and $7 for students, faculty, staff, senior citizens over 60, and children less than 12. Attendees are asked to park Lot 3 or 2C (SBCC Campus Map), and purchase a parking permit as parking is strictly enforced on campus.

If you can not attend in person, you can always follow the Citrus College Twitter feed @ccfightingowls which will be providing live updates in Santa Barbara.