Beach Volleyball Serves Inaugural Season
The Santiago Canyon College Hawks took to the sand for the first time in history on Friday morning as the beach volleyball team kicked off its inaugural season against the Fullerton College Hornets and the Riverside City College Tigers. The Hawks battled with a limited roster, but ultimately dropped both contests.
Primarily indoor volleyball players, Santiago Canyon experienced their first action on the sand at Newland Park in Huntington Beach, CA. The Hawks entered today's tri-match as the first-ever squad to represent on the sand. They did so by displaying six players that featured freshman Peyton Speakman, freshman Sophie Ziglinski, freshman Chelsea Riedel, freshman Ashlyn Smith, freshman Laisha Hochstrasser and sophomore Roxanne Costello.
Speakman and Zignlinski teamed up at the top of the lineup for Santiago Canyon and faced off against stiff competition. They were unable to claim a set, but earned double-digit point totals in each showdown.
The duo of Smith and Costello went undefeated on the day as they held down the third position for the Hawks. They cruised through their first matchup against Fullerton with scores reading 21-17 and 21-5, while backing up their performance with a three-set thriller against Riverside. They snagged the first set, 21-16, dropped the second set 21-12, but flew back to nab an exciting 17-15 third set.
Both of Riedel and Hochstrasser matches went the distance as they held down the second slot. They defeated Fullerton, 21-19, 16-21, 15-9, but fell to Riverside in a close match. They won the opening set 22-19, but fell in the following two sets.