The Taft College women's volleyball team finally hit the court on Friday to face live competition for the first time in over a year. The match wasn't anywhere near as long as the Cougars defeated Antelope Valley College in both teams' season opener in three sets, winning 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 in Lancaster.
Freshman Jada Dias made her name known as she registered a match-high 15 kills in her first collegiate match. The native of Honolulu also picked up 5 digs and an ace.
Dias nearly had half of Taft's kills on the day, but the Cougars got contributions on offense from freshman Serenity Feleti and her 7 kills as well as from sophomore Abygail Olejnik who chipped in with 4 kills and a team-best 4 aces.
Sophomore Janae Niutupuivaha led all with 20 digs while freshman setter Kayla Iwata totaled 28 assists, 4 digs, and 3 kills.
Chloe Parker led Antelope Valley with 7 kills.
The two teams will face off again on Saturday at 3 p.m., this time in Taft as part of a doubleheader for the Cougars. TC follows that contest with a 5 p.m. match against visiting Cuesta College.