Cougars cap Delta Classic with 3-2 win over San Francisco

A rough weekend for the Taft College women's volleyball team ended on a high note. Facing some of the state's top teams, the Cougars closed out a 1-3 record at the Delta Classic tournament with a marathon 3-2 victory over City College of San Francisco on Saturday.

TC picked up its first victory of the season by beating CCSF 21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 11-25, 15-12 to close out the weekend in Stockton. Taft tied a season-high with 36 kills in the match, getting a team-high 10 kills from Keala Skeele to go along with two blocks. Jasmine Chipen-li had an excellent match with eight kills and 11 digs while Lauren Pau-De Santos added eight kills and nine digs.

Christy Hopfe led TC with 15 digs and Elisia Brown paced the offense with 28 assists.

The other three contests didn't quite go the Cougars way. Taft opened the tourney on Friday with a 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-15, 25-10) loss to Gavilan College. Pau-De Santos had a huge match in the defeat, posting eight kills and 15 digs. Madison Barcelona and Chipen-li led TC with nine kills while Elisia Brown totaled 31 assists and eight digs.

The Cougars came back later in the day and suffered another 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 25-13) loss, this time to College of San Mateo. Chipen-li had a team-best nine kills and added 12 digs for the Cougars. Pau-De Santos added eight kills and Hopfe contributed another big match from the back line with 21 digs. Brown led the Cougars with 23 assists and three aces.

TC resumed play on Saturday morning with a 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-16) defeat by Shasta College. Pau-De Santos had a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Skeele also played well, totaling eight kills, four digs, two blocks, and two aces. Brown led with 25 assists and Hopfe came up with 16 digs.

Taft, now 1-6 overall, returns to action on Wednesday (Sep. 11) when it hosts former Central Valley Conference foe Cerro Coso College in a 5 p.m. non-conference match.