After missing almost all of the 2021 season and the first seven matches of 2022, Tristin Sahlie has, at last, returned to coach Armen Zakarian's lineup. Sahlie made her presence known Wednesday, as the 5-11 outside hitter from Pacific Grove led the Vikings to a 25-20, 25-14, 25-16 sweep of visiting Butte College. The win helped the Vikings (5-9) put a six-match losing streak in the rearview mirror heading to the Oct. 14 Coast Conference opener at Monterey Peninsula (9-3).
The Vikings stumbled out of the gate Wednesday, falling behind the Roadrunners (4-14) 4-0 in the opening set, but rallied to take the lead at 7-6 and never looked back. WVC roared out to 17-10 and 22-12 leads in set two before a Sahlie kill ended it.
The third set was much the same, with WVC jumping out to an 18-12 lead. Brooke Lopez connected on four straight service points for a 22-12 Viking lead and a Nunu Saulala solo block on match point closed it out.
Sahlie finished with an eight-kill, four-dig, two-block stat line, while Saulala had four blocks and five kills. Devin Derecho ended the afternoon with six kills, 10 digs, two blocks and an ace. Kiana Manson had six kills, and Lopez had three service aces. Flor Porras had nine digs and a pair of aces, and Sydney Rogers handed out 16 assists and came up with eight digs.
