No. 10 Canyons Headed to No. 7 Santa Ana to Begin CCCAA SoCal Regionals

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director   

College of the Canyons will enter the postseason as the No. 10 seed in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Women's Volleyball Southern California Regional Playoffs.

No. 10 Canyons (18-8, 12-0) travels to face No. 7 Santa Ana College (18-5, 11-5) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22 for a second-round playoff match. Both programs received first round byes as a result of their regular season finishes.

General admission tickets to Tuesday's match are CASH ONLY. Prices are $12 for adults and $8 for students/staff (with valid I.D.), seniors over 60 and children under 12, as mandated by the CCCAA. 

Tuesday's match will also be live streamed to fans free of charge via the Santa Ana College Athletics YouTube channel here. 

The winner of Tuesday's match between COC and SAC will advance to face the winner between No. 2 Irvine Valley College and either No. 15 Bakersfield (13-9) or No.18 El Camino (10-11). Bakersfield and ECC are set to meet in Saturday's opening play-in round, with the winner officially entering the regional bracket.

A full CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoff bracket can be found here.

Canyons is playing in the postseason for a ninth consecutive season (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). The CCCAA didn't host a 2020 season due to cancellations based on the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 regional playoffs also mark the program's 19th postseason appearance overall. 

The Cougars finished the regular season as champions of the Western State Conference (WSC), South Division after completing a perfect 12-0 run through the conference schedule. The title is the seventh in program history and first since the 2017 campaign. The perfect conference run had not been accomplished since the 2015 season. Canyons also accomplished that same feat in 2014. 

Canyons dropped its regular season finale in the annual WSC Crossover, falling to No. 3 state ranked Ventura College 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 29-27) on the road. Prior to that, the Cougars had not lost a game since Sept. 21, running its consecutive win streak to 13 straight. COC has played to an 8-4 road record and 2-2 mark on neutral courts.

The Cougars finished the regular season ranked No. 14 in the state according to the final regular season California Community College Women's Volleyball Coaches Association (CCCWVCA) statewide rankings. 

COC's attack has been led by Kaelyn White (214), Aly Grodell (211), Brianna Botello (185) and Ariana Vargas (125) in the kills department. Canyons posted a .285 hitting percentage during conference play averaging 13.76 kills per set.

Abby Sherman (37), Jordan Nunez (33) and Grodell (27) have led the Cougars in scoring from behind the line with their ace totals leading the squad. Sherman also leads the team in digs with 179, followed by libero Sabrina Sveiven (134) and Nunez (133).

Nunez has tallied 571 assists across 86 sets with Grace Rodriguez next at 234. At the net, Grodell came away with 59 total blocks to lead the way followed by Sahliyah Ravare (46) and White (36).

Santa Ana finished the regular season third in the Orange Empire Conference behind conference champs Irvine Valley (19-4, 15-1 and Orange Coast College (19-5, 12-4). 

The program's 18 wins represent a school record. As a result, the Dons are playing in the Southern California regionals for the first time since 1983. 

Santa Ana won five of their final seven matches down the stretch including back-to-back wins to close out the schedule. Santa Ana finished 9-2 on its home court.

The Dons were ranked No. 12 in the state according to the final regular season CCCWVCA statewide rankings. 

SAC is hitting .213 as a team and averaging 11.64 kills per set across 23 matches. Matilde Teixeira leads the team with 335 kills followed by Alison Caswell (217) and Kassandra Zavala (145). Kaiden Raif has helped pace the offense to the tune of 714 assists with Zavala also adding 50 total blocks on the defensive side. Ines Lopes leads the team with 288 digs.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.