The historic 2018 Cougar Volleyball regular season came to a close on Tuesday night with a thrilling five-set victory over the Pirates of Victoria College as the five CBC sophomores walked-off their home court winners. The fact that CBC closed its season with a win, and a win at home are two more program firsts.
Adrianna Anzaldua, Lindsay Garibay, Meaghan Gonzalez, Precious Lopez, and Halle Martin took to the Maracek Physical Fitness Center gym floor one final time this season, but they saw Victoria come out aggressively and ready for the challenge as the Pirates took the first set convincingly 25-16. CBC would make a few adjustments and clawed their way back in to the match 25-20. The third set was a back and forth affair as neither team could create much separation from the other. The Pirates managed to put enough together late to win 27-25. Once again CBC, rallied and won the fourth set 25-21, to set up the dramatic deciding fifth set.
In the shortened fifth frame, the Pirates jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. They would hold that two point margin at the side change 8-6, but following the court flip and a timeout the Columbia and Navy would come storming back. Both teams would hold match points on their serve only to see the other team put together a sideout and point to return the pressure. The final play would be a furious rally at the net, with the ball going down on the Pirate side sealing the set and the match for the Cougars 17-15.
Garibay would come through in a big way in her final match in Bee County. The Beeville native knocked a team high 12 kills, and scooped up 12 digs and led in points scored with 15. Freshman setter Samantha Santos would gather her first career triple-double scoring 10 kills, dishing out 21 assists and collecting 10 digs to go along with two aces and two blocks. Sydney Whitaker would put down 11 kills and hit .250. On the defense side of the ball Alyssa Hutcheson continued her stellar play digging a team high 26, while Cierra Hernandez dug 10. The Cougars blocked a season high 18 balls, with Amber Willis blocking seven, while Precious Lopez knocked down four balls.
The match marked the final time that the Cougars and the Pirates will be non-conference opponents as Victoria will be joining Region XIV in the Fall of 2019.
The Cougars next game will be another program first - post-season play - as they take on #3 Navarro College in the first-round of the Region XIV Championship Tournament on Friday at 1:00 pm in Baytown, TX. A win by CBC and they will advance to semi-finals on Saturday at 9:00 am; a loss will put the Cougars in the contenders bracket with a match to be played Friday at 5:00 pm. All Region XIV Championship games will be live-streamed HERE. You can find the tournament website HERE.