LANA GORE (far right) gets mobbed by teammates after the Lady Panthers put away Vanden on Tuesday to take sole possession of first place in the Solano County Athletic Conference.

Benicia High’s varsity volleyball team nearly had its Solano County Athletic Conference winning streak snapped Tuesday, but some big plays by the Lady Panthers down the stretch helped fend off visiting Vanden in five sets, 25-23, 25-8, 24-26, 16-25, 15-12.

It was the 60th straight SCAC victory for the Lady Panthers, who improved to 4-0 in the SCAC this season. The win also put Benicia into sole possession of first place over Vanden (3-1 SCAC).

“I was really excited to get some good competition from our league,” said senior Lana Gore, who had 12 kills for Benicia, “They were a really good team but I knew we could pull it out.”

Benicia looked like it might send Vanden home early after easily winning the second set to go up 2-0. Tied 24-24 in the third set, the Lady Panthers had a chance to sweep the match but couldn’t put the Lady Vikings away. When Vanden’s Kamra Jackson and Andrea Walker started clicking, the Lady Vikings forced a decisive fifth set and had all the momentum.

“There were so many different emotions in that game,” said Benica libero Ramona Glatzel, who had a career-high 28 digs. “Everything kept changing so fast, but we did a good job of collecting ourselves and staying focused. We brought out everything we had.”

A tip by Jessica Blakeman and a kill by Charlotte Cannizzaro gave Benicia a quick 2-0 lead. Vanden closed to within 10-9, but another kill by Cannizzaro and a cross-court kill by Gore put Benicia in command. Gore finished things off with a kill and a block.

“I was a little nervous but I knew we could put it together,” Gore said. “We knew it was Vanden and we had to win. It’s the biggest win so far this season.”

“We were a lot more composed in that fifth set and just treated it like any other match,” said Benicia head coach Jamie Hadenfeldt. “We were focused on execution instead of emotions and rivalries.”

Blakeman finished with 15 kills while Cannizaro had 12 kills. Setter Karah Fisher went 39-for-40 on serves with four aces and added a career-high 51 assists. Emily Maher added nine kills and Taylor Lokey had seven blocks.

It was a big bounce-back victory for the Lady Panthers, who went 1-3 three days earlier at the Menlo Tournament.

Benicia wraps up the first third of the SCAC schedule with a match at American Canyon on Thursday.

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