Beach splits in OEC opener

The Saddleback beach volleyball team split a pair of matches in the Orange Empire Conference opener on Friday at Golden West College.  The Bobcats fell to Golden West (0-5) in the opener before cruising past Santa Ana (3-1) later in the day.

Saddleback fell in the opening match to the host Rustlers and needed to rally back to get to even for the day.  The Bobcats battled past the Dons, 3-1, to even their conference record.

Saddleback won on courts 1-3 but had to work hard on court one in order to pull out the win.  With Saddleback leading 2-1 in the team match, the Bobcats had to go to a third set on court one before pulling out a hard-fought win, 15-12, with Cori Willcoxson and Carolina McNamee. 

Saddleback won earlier matches on courts two and three.  Meg Gardner and Sophie Vienna were 22-20, 21-16 winners on court two while Tatiana Kringel and Delaney Wilson fought for a 21-12, 21-12 win on court three.

Saddleback is now 3-1 overall and 1-1 in Orange Empire Conference play to start the season.  The Bobcats will play again next Friday at Irvine Valley College when they play Santiago Canyon College (10:00 AM) and the host Lasers (11:00 AM).