SANTA ANA - The Dons picked up their first Orange Empire Conference victory of the season with a four-set win over visiting Saddleback College. The game scores were 25-20, 21-25, 29-27 and 25-19.

The first set had the teams playing to a 14-14 tie before Fernanda Ruiz broke the tie with a kill, putting the Dons on top for good in the set. Chloe Anderson added a kill at 17-15 before Iliana Mendoza's service ace but the Dons up 19-15. After the Gauchos (2-8, 0-5) cut the lead to 23-20, Esther Arroyo and Mendoza scored back-to-back kills to end the set.

The two teams played to several ties in the second set, with the Dons (4-7, 1-4) taking leads at 7-6 on an Arroyo service ace and 9-7 on a Mendoza kill. But the Gauchos would break a 13-13 tie with a 3-0 run, and wouldn't relinquish the lead on their way to the 25-21 win.

In the third set, the Dons found themselves behind early at 3-1 before claiming their first lead of the set at 4-3 on an Anderson kill. After the Gauchos came back to tie the set at 6-6, Arroyo's kill put the Dons up 7-6. The Dons would hold that lead until late in the match, when Saddleback rallied from down as many as six points at 19-13.

Eventually, the Gauchos would come back to tie the set at 22-22 before taking a 23-22 lead. Zaria Saunders pulled the Dons back into a tie at 24-24, but the Gauchos would put themselves in the lead two more times.

Finally, with the Dons trailing 26-25, SAC scored two straight to take a late lead for the first time at 27-26. But the Gauchos would tie the set again at 27-27 before the Dons closed out the set with a 29-27 victory. Arroyo had the tiebreaker, setting up the Dons winning point.

The Gauchos came out strong in the fourth set as they built an early lead up to 8-2 before the Dons slowly began chipping away at the lead. Using a run that consisted of a Mendoza kill, back-to-back Anderson kills and a Saunders kill, the Dons pulled within one at 13-12.

After the Gauchos went up 14-12, the Dons got another Saunders kill followed by a Myriah Kunipo-Aguirre service ace to tie the set at 14-14 before breaking the tie and taking the lead for good at 15-14. The Dons would then go on to close out the set, and the match, with a final score of 25-19.

The Dons hit the road next Wednesday at Golden West before returning home next Friday, October 24 when they host Cypress College at 7:00 p.m.