Heading on the road to Santa Barbara City College to take on the No. 2-ranked Vaqueros the No. 14-ranked Pirates women's volleyball team dropped the match in four sets 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19. In the defeat Ventura had two hitters with double digit kills, Brittney Mukhar and Paris Dosch. Jaimelene Salgado dished out 38 assists for the Pirates attack.
Faced with a tough road test and looking to stay in the thick of the playoff hunt the Pirates (14-5, 3-3) came out on the attack taking 20-17 advantage late in the first set before the Vaqueros rallied with an 8-1 run to claim the set.
In set two the teams were again close with the Pirates trailing 14-13. At that point, SBCC went on another run, claiming a 25-15 victory.
With their backs against the wall, Ventura bowed its neck and refused to go quietly. Trailing 19-17 in the third, the Pirates went on a run to take the lead and close out the set for a 25-23 win, forcing a fourth set.
In set four the Pirates were unable to gain a lead over the Vaqueros in an elimination set. Playing hard looking to push the match the distance, VC dropped the deciding set 25-19 for a tough 3-1 defeat.
Mukhar and Dosch both collected 12 total kills with Tori Hiott adding nine kills and Armonee Hunter picking up seven kills to led the Pirates offense. Mukhar and Hiott were big on the defensive side of the game with 17 digs and 14 digs respectively while Cassandra Lacanilao picked up 29 total digs from her libero position. As a team VC had nine total service aces led by Mukhar with three.
Ventura will be off until Wednesday Oct. 28 when Los Angeles Mission will travel to the Athletic Event Center for a 7:00 pm match. The contest will start the Pirates' second trip through the rugged Western State Conference North Division which currently features four teams ranked in the top-14 of Southern California rankings.