Citrus College Opens Home Slate with Victory

Citrus College opened its home season Friday night and grabbed a 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23) victory over Southwestern College.

The Owls improve to 1-2 on the young year, while the Jaguars fall to 1-2 overall.

Delaney Tate led all scorers with 14 kills and posted 14 digs for a double-double. Faith Evaro followed with 12 kills, while Kalin Greene came up big at the net with three blocks on the night. Defensively, four Owls had double-digit digs with Alexis Aguayo's 15 leading the way. Evelyn Enriquez chipped in 13 digs and Maritza Sanchez had 11 to go with her 33 assists.

Citrus came out swinging and boasted a .304 hitting clip in the first set to steamroll its way to a 25-14 set win. The Owls opened on a 7-1 run before Southwestern called a timeout. The Jaguars cut the scoring spree briefly, but Citrus scored four-straight points to increase its lead to 13-4.

The Jaguars tried to put a run together and scored back-to-back points to pull within 22-13, but an Aniya Smith ace sealed the victory, 25-14.

Looking to carry momentum into the second set, Citrus opened with three consecutive points before Southwestern could get on the board. The Jaguars answered back with a 3-0 run of their own, before jumping out in front 14-11.

Citrus called a timeout and scored two points to pull within one. Southwestern grabbed some more separation, 19-15, but a kill from Evaro sparked a 6-0 run to put the Owls in front 21-19. Tate sealed the set victory with a kill to put Citrus up 2-0.

Once again Citrus found itself trailing but rallied to take the lead 16-15 on a block from Madeline Harrison and Greene.

The Jaguars fought back, however, and took the set 25-23 to force a fourth.

Determined to grab its first win of the season, Citrus jumped out to a 7-4 lead but soon found itself trailing 15-12. The Owls called a timeout and responded with a 4-1 run, evening the set at 16-16 and forcing a Jaguar timeout.

Even at 22-22, Citrus called a timeout and scored back-to-back points to reach match point. An error stalled the end briefly, but Evaro slammed it home to secure the victory for the Owls. 

Citrus hits the road again, taking on Pasadena City College on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.