The efficiency and balance displayed on the court by the San Marcos boys volleyball team carried it to a sweep over crosstown rival Santa Barbara High in a Channel League match on Tuesday night at the Thunderhut. The scores were 25-19, 25-21, 25-18.
Behind solid ball control and the brilliant setting of senior Hansen Streeter, the Royals had Santa Barbara blockers and back-row defenders scrambling all night.
Jack Wilson led the way with 13 kills on a .706 hitting percentage, Luke Walker put away 12 kills on a .667 average and Mason Rice had nine kills to go with a 2.60 serve-receive average out of 3.0.
“I think on our side the energy we had was unbelievable,” said Streeter, last year’s league MVP.“We wanted it really bad. We’ve been working for it really hard this season and I think that trumps all.”
Streeter got a lot of help from his teammates, who provided him with good passes to work with.
Rice and libero Cliff Ficker were nearly spot-on with their receptions against Santa Barbara’s big jump servers.
Rice transferred to San Marcos after starting for Santa Barbara last season. He heard some chirping from the Santa Barbara student section on Tuesday but he didn’t let it bother him. He passed well, dug several heavy hits from the Dons and put balls away.
Coach Roger Kuntz was thoroughly impressed with Rice’s focus and his performance against his former team.
“I pulled him aside and I said, ‘Listen, this is a tough environment for you to make a change. That’s a life change for you. I couldn’t have been more happy with what you did between your ears tonight.’
“He’s been the best serve-receive guy for us,” Kuntz continued. “At 6-4, when you got your best serve-receive guy, that’s pretty good. I thought he played an outstanding match tonight.”
Streeter said that in addition to Rice’s skills, the junior brings a lot of intensity to the Royals (8-2, 2-0 in league).
“He brings even more intensity and he has even more determination to win with all those chants going on and what not,” said Streeter. “He thrives off that, so props to him. He played very well.”
Santa Barbara (5-4, 1-1) got a strong match from middle Mikey Denver. He led the team with 12 kills and hit for .647 average. Will Harman added 11 kills.
Santa Barbara came into the match off a fifth-place finish at the Best of the West Tournament. But the Dons couldn’t match the steady play of San Marcos on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it was overconfidence or anything, I think San Marcos just played better than us tonight,” said coach Chad Arneson. “We made a lot of unforced errors, our serving wasn’t strong. I thought we’d come in ready to play, but unfortunately we didn’t show up.
“We weren’t ready to go except for Mikey Denver.”
The first set was close until San Marcos went on a 5-1 run to go up 21-16. One the big plays in the run was a beautiful back set from Streeter on the right side that Wilson put away to terminate a rally. Middle Landon Sheffey and Rice followed with a block on the outside and Streeter then fed Wilson for a kill from the back row.
Rice finished the set with a kill down the line.
Wilson got San Marcos going in the second set, recording two kills in the front row, one from the back row and a service. The Royals never trailed in the set.
Santa Barbara’s Raglan Kear ripped a kill to bring the Dons to within one, 12-11, in the third set. But consecutive hitting errors deflated all the momentum.
Rice sided out from the outside, Streeter scored on a dump after a bad pass by Santa Barbara. Wilson blocked another bad pass, Rice served an ace and Streeter blocked a third Dons’ overpass to take a commanding 19-12 lead.
“We really kept our head on straight and stayed with what we do very well,” said Kuntz of his team’s steady play in an emotional rivalry game. “We’ve got great offense and I thought we serve-received and served really well tonight.
“The thing is, when we’re system, and with Hansen Streeter running the show, we’ve got so much firepower on the outsides, in the middle and on the backside. Our backside is really strong with Luke Walker. He’s been pretty automatic for us. And our outsides were really good tonight.”