Santa Ana, Calif. - Golden West opened Orange Empire Conference competition Friday night with a straight-set victory over Santa Ana College. The Rustlers (7-0, 1-0) defeated the Dons (3-6, 0-1) with the final set scores of 25-6, 25-14 and 25-16. 

Freshman Jordyn Sanchez led the Rustlers with 14 kills and sent 4 aces over the net, and teammate Drucilla Gauta put up 2 solo blocks for the night and chipped in 12 kills of her own. 

Golden West opened the first set with three-straight points before jumping out to a 12-3 lead. From there, the Rustlers continued to pull away including a 12-0 run to close out the set and win by a score of 25-6. 

The second set started with a 2-2 tie for the teams, with the Dons doing their best to stay within striking range of the Rustlers. SAC cut the lead 6-4, but continually chased a strong Rustler offense.  The set closed out with a 9-4 run in favor of GWC to win 25-14

The third game saw the Dons establish their first leads of the match with service ace putting the Dons up 2-1 and with a kill, the Dons up 3-2. The Rustlers would then break a 4-4 tie and reclaim the lead for good. the Dons wouldn't go down without a fight as they cut a Golden West lead from 10-5 to 10-8 to keep the match close. But Golden West would respond again as they pulled out to a 20-12 lead before ultimately winning the set, and the match, by a final score of 25-16.