Big week has Gauchos on the rise

The Saddleback women's volleyball team is on the rise after a five-set win over Cypress College on Friday in the Saddleback Gymnasium.  With two wins this week the Gauchos are now in fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference.

Saddleback opened the week looking for some answers after starting the season 2-7 and buried in the OEC standings.  The Gauchos found some rhythm this week, streaking past Santiago Canyon College on Wednesday and outdueling Cypress on Friday. 

Saddleback blew past Santiago Canyon on Wednesday, beating the Hawks 25-14, 25-16 and 25-15.   Julia Brown finished with a team-high 18 kills while Kiana Camargo had 33 assists in the win.  In addition, Shay Savoie had 14 digs while Natalie Abboud had four service aces.

Saddleback got a much stingier test on Friday night against a Cypress program that entered the match with a half-game lead on the Gauchos in the standings.  Saddleback bolted out to a 2-0 lead after consecutive 25-23 wins in the first two sets.  Cypress bounced back with a vengeance, winning the next two sets 18-25 and 12-25 to grab all the momentum heading into a decisive fifth set.  Saddleback collected themselves and stung the Chargers with a 15-13 win in set five, moving past Cypress in the conference standings. 

Saddleback is now 4-7 overall and 3-2 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win on Friday.  The Gauchos are a half-game behind third place Riverside City College and one game behind second place Orange Coast College.  The Gauchos will get a chance to climb higher in the standings as they host Riverside City next Wednesday night in the Saddleback Gymnasium.  Match time is scheduled for 6:00 PM.