Owls Fall In Four at Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA -- The Citrus College Volleyball team's 2013 season came to a close on Tuesday evening at Santa Barbara City College. The Owls fell in a hard fought four sets in the first round of the CCCAA playoffs to host Santa Barbara, 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-15.

The first set saw both trade blows out of the gate. After the set was all tied up at 11, the score would be tied up seven more times, the last at 19 all after an error by Santa Barbara. The Vaqueros would rip off six of the next nine points though as they claimed a first set victory.

In the second, Santa Barbara jumped out to a small lead, with Citrus keeping it close throughout. The Owls would tie the set up five times in the first 24 points, including 12-12 after an ace from freshman Cassandra Freitag. The Owls would then grab their first lead of the set 13-12 after an assist block from sophomores Ana Bui and Kayla Eddings.

Again though, Santa Barbara had a late run in them as they rattled off five straight points to take a comfortable four point lead. Citrus would draw even again at 19-19, after back to back kills from freshman Danielle Hundley and a kill by Eddings, but Santa Barbara settled in and went on to score six of the final eight points of the second set.

In the third set, Citrus found themselves behind by three points twice in the first 17 points of the set. The Owls would do just enough to keep themselves in things, making a late run to tie the game up at 19-19 after a kills from Hundley and Freitag and an ace from sophomore Kiyhanna Dade. Dade would notch a second straight ace to put the Owls up 20-19 and give them their first lead of the set.

Citrus would cling to that lead, with Santa Barbara tying it back up twice at 20 all and 21 all. The Owls watched though as Santa Barbara committed crucial mistakes down the stretch and got big kill from Bui that kept them in the match 25-22.

Despite momentum seemingly swinging their way, the Owls came out flat in the fourth set falling behind 5-1 early. Citrus never really recovered from that point forward. The Owls would make it interesting overcoming a nine point deficit to pull within six at 11-17 after back to back kills from Bui and a Freitag kill. It was too little too late though as Citrus eventually fell by 10 in that final set.

In the loss, Citrus was led by Hundley who had a match high 21 kills. Sophomore setter Amanda Stone handed out 38 assists, while Freitag put together a nice stat line, with 11 kills, three aces, a pair of solo blocks, and a block assist. With the loss, Citrus' season ends with a 14-10 record.