Volleyball breaks out the brooms

The Saddleback women's volleyball team ran its winning streak to three on Friday when it took two matches from Rio Hondo College and Chaffey College at the Santa Ana Quad Tournament.  The Gauchos swept both matches, 3-0, and haven't lost a set in the past three matches.

Saddleback (5-4) is now over .500 for the first time this season after starting 1-3 against NJCAA programs in Las Vegas in late August.  The Gauchos have since won 4-of-5 matches against programs from Southern California and have been making things look easy in the past week.

Saddleback opened the quad tournament at Santa Ana with a 25-14, 25-19, 25-11 win over Rio Hondo College.  The Gauchos received 11 digs from Kelli Dowell and eight kills from Kendall Nolan in dispersing of the Roadrunners in straight sets.

Later in the afternoon Saddleback ran its winning streak to three with a convincing 25-13, 25-20, 25-11 win over Chaffey.  Dowell was again a force with 10 digs while Nolan and Mandy Sides had eight kills apiece.

The Gauchos finished with 24 service aces in the two matches, with Natalee Gray leading the way with eight.  Kiana Camargo combined for 33 assists in the two matches while Mariah Torres had 14.

Saddleback has another non-conference match next Wednesday against San Diego Mesa College before opening Orange Empire Conference play.  The Gauchos and Olympians are set to start at 6:00 PM in the Saddleback Gymnasium on Wednesday.