The Bakersfield College volleyball team’s season ended over the weekend, as the team lost to El Camino College 3-1 on Nov. 28 in the second round of the Southern California Regional playoffs. BC powered its way into the playoffs after winning six of its final seven conference match-ups, finishing the regular season with a record of 16-12 on the season and 8-4 in conference play. With their only loss coming to College of the Canyons on Nov. 18, in which BC won the only set Canyons has lost in conference play, the team had plenty of confidence heading into its first round match-up of the playoffs as they awaited the seeding for teams. “This late in the season we are just trying to focus on not making mental errors and playing our best volleyball when we need to,” said coach Carl Ferreira. BC had to travel to Palomar (15-8 overall, 12-4 Western State Conference South) in the first round but still beat the Comets 3-1 with scores of 26-24, 23-25, 26-24, and 25-20 in the final set. Palomar didn’t just hand the win to the Renegades as each of the first three sets were decided by two points. The Comets were no match for BC’s leading scorers, as Daryan Heathcott with 23 points (17 kills, 5 aces) and Mackenzie Hernandez, 20 points (17 kills, three blocks), proved to be the deciding factors in the match. With the win, BC moved onto the second round to face El Camino in Torrance. El Camino proved too much for the Renegades, as the team was easily defeated in four sets with scores of 25-11, 22-25, 25-13, and 25-16. BC struggled on the offensive side, averaging 17 more attacks at the net than El Camino, but only connecting on 13 percent leading to a total of 38 points scored by the team in the match compared to El Caminos 65. A combination of errors by BC and balanced offense from the El Camino team (4 players in double-figures in scoring) was too much for BC to overcome as the offense couldn’t score with regularity on El Camino’s defense. Leading scorer Daryan Heathcott finished the match with 12 points (10 kills, 2 aces), however, she had a team-high 12 errors as the team would commit a total of 35 nearly doubling the 20 errors made by El Camino. Although the loss ended the Renegades season a bit earlier then Ferreira would’ve liked, he stills feels as though his team accomplished a lot this season, most notably with Heathcott being named to the A;ll-state first team and his team rallying late in the season to secure its spot in the playoffs. “We did a lot of great things this year. We won six straight to make the playoffs after a long season, and I felt like we could win it all up until the last point was scored,” said Ferreira. Ferriera feels as though his team steadily improved throughout the season, and he was pleased with the leadership his sophomores showed with facilitating the team internally. “I feel as though the coaches are external, and this season, I wanted our sophomores to take our freshman under their wings and teach them what I couldn’t. I’m proud of our players. They had an exceptional season from top to bottom,” said Ferreira.

[Photos By Joe Bergman]