Stevens Shines in San Marcos Sweep of Dos Pueblos
San Marcos Dominates Rival Dos Pueblos in Return to Channel League Play
Unforced errors have plagued the Dos Pueblos High boys’ volleyball team this season and visiting San Marcos was more than equipped to capitalize on those mistakes.
The Royals swept the Chargers for the second time this season 25-19, 25-15, 25-16 in a Channel League match on Tuesday night at Sovine Gym.
“We’re still working hard to get better right now at this point in the season because we feel like we still have a lot of season ahead of us,” said San Marcos head coach Roger Kuntz. “I thought our serve receive was very good tonight. We’ve been working hard on that. We’ve got to have that against a lot of the other teams.”
San Marcos is currently in the others receiving votes category of the CIF-SS Division 1/2 poll and if the Royals end up getting placed in Division 2 when the playoffs come around the pieces are in place for a deep playoff run.
Setter Tanner Stevens runs the show for San Marcos and his stat line against Dos Pueblos, which included 29 assists, seven digs and six blocks is indicative of his impact on the court.
“He’s just smooth. It’s hard to really rattle him. He’s just solid all the time,” said Kuntz of Stevens. “We’re lucky to have him.”
For Dos Pueblos (11-9 overall, 2-4 Channel League) a lack of varsity experience has forced coach Ehren Hug to practice patience and emphasize fundamentals.
Senior Jack Hogan, who finished with 12 kills, led the Chargers offensively.
San Marcos raced out to a 15-6 lead in set one on an ace serve by Stevens, but Dos Pueblos responded with a 11-5 run, cutting its deficit to 20-17 when Toby Still hit into the net.
However, San Marcos thwarted the comeback and went on to clinch the first set on a Still ace serve.
Dos Pueblos failed to offer much resistance in sets two and three and the Royals clinched the match on a spike through the block by Niko Cvitanic.
Cade McLean and Toby Still spearheaded a balnaced San Marcos attack with nine and eight kills respectively.
“It’s hard to come into Dos Pueblos’ gym and win,” Kuntz said. “I haven’t done it too many times over here so we’re really happy we were able to walk away with the victory tonight.”
