The growing pains are evident for the Dos Pueblos High girls volleyball through two non-league games.
The Chargers were swept by visiting Santa Ynez 25-12, 25-13, 25-15 on Tuesday night at Sovine Gym.
“Our starting lineup tonight, at any point, four out of the six are new to varsity and two of them are freshman, who came from eighth grade volleyball and are now playing big girl volleyball at the varsity level” said Dos Pueblos coach Megan O’Carroll. “We’re super young, and I always hate when people use that as their excuse — that we’re young and that we’re growing — but we are really young, and we’re having to train two really key positions this season at setter and libero.”
The Pirates dominated from the start led by the attacking duo of Scotty Losson and Scarlett Ollenburger, who finished with 15 and ten kills respectively.
Santa Ynez dominated with tough serving, which led to 13 aces as a team. Six of those aces came from Lila Cassidy. Defensively, libero Haley Spry finished with nine digs and setter Emma Johnson had an excellent match distributing the ball with 30 assists.
The Chargers were led by outside hitter Addison Lowe, who finished with six kills. Middle blocker Athena Bardakos was also a bright spot as she delivered four aces.
With the victory Santa Ynez improves to 2-0 on the season and Dos Pueblos drops to 0-3
Santa Barbara, 3; Valencia, 2
The Dons captured a huge non-league victory over Valencia 35-33, 16-25, 21-25, 27-25, 15-9 for their first win of the young season.
“Our girls played so tough, if there’s one takeaway for me as a coach it’s that this group never says die,” said Santa Barbara High coach Kristin Hempy. “They have incredible heart and are committed to each other and the team.”
Santa Barbara enjoyed aggressive serving from Paylin Marcillac (libero), Grace Costner (defensive specialist), and Jaqueline Durling (middle blocker), each with multiple aces.
