A storybook ending was not in the cards for the Santa Barbara High boys volleyball team Friday night.
Trailing 2-0, the Dons fought back to force a pivotal fifth, but a big run by Redondo Union in the final frame was too much to overcome, as Santa Barbara lost in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, 21-25, 22-25, 25-17, 26-24, 10-15.
The loss ends the Dons’ season and spoils their chances of winning back-to-back CIF titles after taking home the CIF-SS D2 crown last season.
“This is what Division 1 playoffs are about,” Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson said.
“We’re the team that lost, but I told our boys I’m so proud of them, at their efforts and how they didn’t quit. They fought till the end, so they should keep their heads high and realize that I really appreciate all their hard work and dedication to the team.”
In his final game in a Santa Barbara uniform, senior standout Alex Rottman put together 22 kills. Andreas Schuetz led the team with 25 kills.
“It sucks we have to leave the gym this way, or at least Santa Barbara, but I’m just grateful for the guys that I got to spend the four years with, especially last year, very memorable, special moment,” Rottman said.
“I’m glad I can walk away with that.”
The Dons held leads in both the first and second sets, but “a lack of consistency” led to runs for the Seahawks allowing them to take advantage and win both sets.
“Game one, they kind of stole it but I would say we kind of gave it to them a little bit as far as our serving,” Arneson said. “That kind of killed us there. That was a tough one.
“But our kids fought hard, forced into five and you never know what can happen in that fifth game.”
In the third set, the Dons came out with the energy, and more importantly consistency, that they were missing in the first two sets.
Kills by Rottman and Schuetz helped the team build a 14-10 lead early, but Redondo would cut it to one point after an ace made the score 18-17.
From there, Santa Barbara rattled off seven straight points, thanks to a pair of kills from Mike Denver, who finished with five, and a good amount of tough serving.
In the fourth set, the Dons again started out hot, taking an 8-4 lead, but the Seahawks would not go away so easily, winning seven of the next eight points to take an 11-9 lead and forcing a Santa Barbara timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Dons tied it at 11, and both sides traded points until the Dons built a small run and took a 20-16 lead.
As it did all night, Redondo responded, thanks to kills from Riley Norman, who finished with a team-high 16 kills, tying the contest at 20.
Trailing 24-23, and game on the line, Schuetz came up with his biggest kill of the contest, tying the set at 24. The Dons would then force a block, and an attack error would give them the frame win, setting up the fifth set.
“It was nerve wracking,” Arneson said.
The fifth set started with both sides trading points, but at 6-6, the Seahawks put together a 7-0 run that doomed the Dons’ chances. The set would end at 15-10, in favor of the road team.
“The thing in volleyball, it’s serving and passing and creating less errors, and I think we ended up making little more errors than we should have,” Arneson said.
Redondo Union coach Kevin Norman said he was proud of his team’s ability to shake off the pressure in the fifth set and ultimately come up with the win.
“I feel like the boys believed in the game plan because when they did it, it was working and that’s the key for any volleyball team, probably for most sports,” Norman said.
“If they buy into it and it works, then they want to do it more, and I don’t have to yell it from the sidelines. I can hear them saying it from the sidelines, so that’s what I want. I want boys to figure that out on their own, being students of the game.”
Rottman, who is committed to playing volleyball at Stanford in the fall, said he is looking forward to continuing playing his favorite sport in college.
Asked about his favorite memory, aside from winning CIF last year, Rottman said the team’s five-set win over D1 school Mira Costa early this season.
“’I think it was one of those games where everything went right for us. We just really jived that game and it felt super good,” he said.
“I’m glad we got that this year, and I was so happy just building connections with the guys honestly,” Rottman said. “A lot of the younger guys, I got closer with and it’s sweet to have more of those connections for life.”