Hawks Outlast Fullerton in Five-Set Thriller

The Santiago Canyon College women's volleyball team jumped out to a quick and commanding two-set lead against the Fullerton College Hornets on Friday night in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action. However, the Hornets powered back to win the ensuing two sets to force a winner-take-all scenario that saw a back-and-forth fifth set.

The fifth set traveled beyond the 15-point mark as each team was jockeying for position on every serve. The Hawks were down 8-6 until tying the contest up at eight-all after two Fullerton errors. The Hawks followed by holding a 14-12 lead in attempts to seal the deal, but an errant serve by SCC and a block by Fullerton tied the contest up at 14-all. Eventually, a service ace from Jayden Sessom and a kill from sophomore Chelsea Riedel sealed a five-set victory for the Hawks.

Santiago Canyon cruised through the first two sets by winning 25-15, 25-16. They fumbled the following two set, 25-21, 25-18, after going down big in the early stages. Nevertheless, they were able to earn an 18-16 victory in the fifth set to mark their second conference victory in the last two seasons. Their last conference victory was against Fullerton at home on September 29, 2023 in three-straight sets. 

Riedel led the offense with 21 kills, but committed 13 errors on a team-high 62 attempts. She bent down for 12 digs while rising for two blocks.

Freshman Riley Bingel and sophomore Sophie Ziglinski experienced one of their best offensive games by recording eight kills and five digs each. Ziglinski had two services aces, while Bingel bagged two solo stuffs.

Sophomore Peyton Speakman was money on the set by recording 33 assists which acts as her second-highest mark on the year. She chipped in a pair of kills and 10 digs.

Sessom was electric on the backline by leading the team with 16 digs and four service aces. Sophomore Ashlyn Smith lofted up three aces and recorded 12 digs, while freshman Kayleigh Guyot earned four digs and two service aces.