Owls Battle Hard, Fall in Five Sets to Bakersfield

Citrus College Volleyball fell in a hard-fought five-set match to Bakersfield College tonight, Wednesday, October 15, by a score of 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 25-17, 17-25, 7-15). With the loss, the Owls move to 10-9 overall and 2-3 in Western State Conference play, while the Renegades improve to 6-14 overall and 3-3 in conference.

The match was tightly contested from start to finish. Bakersfield took the opening set 25-22 before Citrus responded with back-to-back dominant wins in the second and third sets, both by scores of 25-17. The Renegades evened the match by taking the fourth set 25-17, then closed out the night with a 15-7 win in the decisive fifth set.

Offensively, Emma Cristales and Sophia Martinez led the way with 14 kills each, while Naomi Dominguez added seven, Aaliyah Janae Freeman chipped in five, and Shaylen McFoy finished with four. Lily Whitney directed the attack with a game-high 20 assists, while Justine Gonzales added 13. Whitney also contributed nine digs defensively.

Martinez paced the back row with 15 digs, followed by Sammi Rivard with 13 digs, five assists, and three aces. Cristales, Jennylyn Gozun, Gonzales, and Rivard each tallied two aces apiece. At the net, Freeman notched two solo blocks and two block assists, while Dominguez and McFoy each added two block assists.

Citrus will look to bounce back on the road this Friday, October 17, when the Owls travel to Glendale College for another conference matchup at 6 p.m.