The San Marcos High girls’ volleyball team has improved drastically over the past month, but not enough to defeat rival Santa Barbara.
The Dons overcame a second-set lull and remained unbeaten in Channel League play following a 25-17, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18 road win over the Royals on Tuesday night at the Thunderhut.
“A lot of credit to San Marcos. I think they served us deep really well, and we struggled to pass those deep serves. They were digging really well and had a nice, consistent block,” said Santa Barbara coach Kristin Hempy. “This overall was not our prettiest match, but we got the job done.”
Blake Saunders has been the primary weapon on the outside for Santa Barbara all season, and that continued against San Marcos as she finished with a match-high 16 kills to go along with five aces, 11 digs, and one block.
Santa Barbara setter Jules Horton did an excellent job keeping an array of hitters involved and racked up 32 assists, three aces, six digs, and three kills. Lola Heckman and Kira Elliott finished with 10 and nine kills, respectively.
After dropping the first set, San Marcos responded in the second set, relying on tough defense to win long rallies. A kill by Harper Dees and an ace serve by Josslyn Hall closed out the second set for the Royals and tied the match. Dees finished with eight kills.
San Marcos was led offensively by Aeryn Alexander, a Santa Barbara High transfer who was playing in her first match after the sit-out period. Alexander had a team-high 25 digs and nine kills.
“We don’t have someone that’s going to get up and rip the ball,” San Marcos coach Erica Downing said. “So we rely a lot on our defense, and we rely a lot on the long rallies.”
After Santa Barbara took the third set, the Royals went ahead early in the fourth, but a long serving run by Saunders, including back-to-back aces, put the Dons ahead 13-8.
The Dons went on to clinch the fourth set and the match after an excellent float serve by Addy Duex resulted in a San Marcos hitting error.
With the victory, Santa Barbara improves to 10-6 overall and 2-0 in Channel League play. San Marcos drops to 2-15 and 0-2 in Channel League play.
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