SANTA ANA - The Dons dropped their Orange Empire Conference match to visiting Saddleback College in four sets despite opening the match with their first set win since November 2, 2012. The Gauchos (5-6, 1-3) defeated the Dons (3-9, 0-4) by set scores of 28-30, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-22.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair with neither team taking control of the set. The Gauchos held early leads of 3-0 and a 6-3, but the Dons came back with a three-point run, including a pair of kills by Esther Arroyo and a kill by Michelle Nguyen, to tie the set at 6-6.
The Dons would then take their first lead of the set at 7-6 before an Alejandrina Alejandro service ace put the Dons up 8-6. After that lead, the Gauchos would come back to tie the set at 8-8 with the teams playing to six more ties, up to 17-17 on an Alejandrina Alejandro service ace.
Nguyen followed that ace up with two-straight kills to put the Dons up 19-17. The Dons continued to lead and seemed destined to put the set away after Iliana Mendoza's kill put SAC up two at 24-22. But the Gauchos would battle back to tie the set at 24-22.
Each team had two opportunities to win the set with the trailing team forcing the tie each time before a Nguyen kill and a Saddleback error gave the Dons the 30-28 win.
The second set opened up as tight as the first set with neither team leading by more than two points early on. It wasn't until after the Dons broke a 5-5 tie they got a kill from Mendoza to go up 7-5. But the Gauchos would come back with four-straight points to take their first two-point lead of the set at 9-5.
The Dons came back to tie the set at 9-9 but Saddleback would answer with a 6-0 run to go up 15-9. The Gauchos would extend their lead to 19-13 before the Dons battled back to cut the lead to just two at 21-19. However, the Gauchos would end the set on a 4-1 run to win 25-20.
After the Gauchos opened the third set with the opening point, the Dons came back with three-straight points to go up 3-1. Like the first two games, the game would be tied several times before the Dons broke a 13-13 tie with three-straight points. However, with the Dons leading 17-15 following a Nguyen kill, the Gauchos went on a 10-2 run to win the third set 25-19 while taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Gauchos seemed to be in control of the fourth set after breaking a 4-4 tie with an 11-4 run to establish a 16-9 lead. But the Dons would begin chipping away at Saddleback's lead before tying the set at 18-18 on a Danielle Goldowski kill. However, the Dons rally would end their as the Gauchos closed out the set, and the match, with a 7-4 run to win the set 25-22.
