The Channel League boys volleyball race got even tighter on Thursday night with just one regular season game remaining.
Dos Pueblos completed a season sweep of rival Santa Barbara High with a four-set win at J.R. Richards Gym, 25-18, 24-26, 25-22, 25-22.
“I’m so proud, they played some of the best volleyball of the season,” Dos Pueblos head coach Ehren Hug said. “They’re just having fun. Sometimes you’ve got to remember it’s the kids that are out there and it’s their turn to have fun, so I kind of just backed off of them and let them enjoy their own time tonight.”
With the Charger victory, Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara are now both 7-2 against league opponents. They are tied for second place behind San Marcos, which sits at 8-1 after a win over Oxnard on Thursday.
All three teams will take the next week off from league action before a critical crosstown matchup between San Marcos and Santa Barbara High on Tuesday, April 22. The Chargers will end the regular season by hosting Oxnard.
“We’ve got to keep our heads up and realize this is a good lesson for us and the season’s not over,” Santa Barbara High head coach Chad Arneson said. “We have a week off of hard practices and still have a chance to be tied for (the) Channel League (title).”
As for Thursday night’s match, Dos Pueblos got out to a strong start in the opening set. After the two sides exchanged the opening points, the Chargers went on a 5-0 run that included a pair of aces from Wyatt Silver to go up 6-1.
That run proved to be the difference in the set, as the Dons cut the deficit down to two points at 9-7 but that was as close as they would get. Dos Pueblos fed Noah Grant early and often on its way to the 25-18 set-one win.
Grant had a big night on the outside for the Chargers, a position he picked up just three weeks ago. He ended with a game-high 24 kills.
“He’s just a great athlete and sometimes you don’t get athletes that can adapt that quickly,” Hug said. “He’s such a natural leaper and he moves so flawlessly in any position really
“In about three weeks, he’s picked up the position really well for someone that novice and he’s still growing too… He had a fantastic night offensively and I thought he passed well too.”
The second set began similarly to the first as Dos Pueblos built out an early 4-1 lead to prompt a Santa Barbara High timeout.
The Chargers held a comfortable lead for the majority of the set and found themselves in front 18-15 with a chance to take full control of the match. However, a pair of Dos Pueblos miscues and a Santa Barbara High block tied the set at 18-18.
The two sides then exchanged points until Santa Barbara’s Hayes Costner ripped off back-to-back aces to take a 21-19 advantage. The Chargers battled back to tie it at 24-24 on a kill by Kawin Ramko, but a Dos Pueblos sideout and a block by the Dons sealed the 26-24 win and evened the match at 1-1.
Costner was the driving force in the Santa Barbara High offense on Thursday, as he led the team with 16 kills.
“It’s such a joy to coach [Costner], the kid is a stud,” Arneson said. “He got us back in that game two with his great jump serving… He’s a great all-around player and he’s not our captain but I know he’s going to be a captain in the next couple of years.
“He’s fun to watch and you can see how much fun he’s having out on the court. It’s a joy to see his maturity as only a sophomore.”
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, as the Chargers built an ealy 9-6 lead but the Dons responded with a swing of momentum to take a 15-13 lead of their own thanks to the strong outside play of Costner and Luke Zuffelato, who ended with 15 kills.
However, Dos Pueblos regained control of the set thanks to stellar play from Wyatt Silver, who registered back-to-back kills to take a 19-16 lead.
Santa Barbara High once again came back to knot the score at 22-22, but the Chargers rattled off three straight points punctuated by a back-row kill from Grant to take the 25-22 win.
Silver stuffed the stat sheet for Dos Pueblos with 43 assists, seven kills, six digs, five aces and two blocks.
“We just asked [Silver] to slow his feet down a little bit and get him there when he’s setting, and I thought the location was much better tonight,” Hug said. “He had a great match tonight… they were feeding off each other.”
With their backs against the wall, the Dons came out the gates firing in the fourth set and raced out to a 6-2 advantage. However, the Chargers remained calm and chipped away, tying the game at 8-8 and taking a 10-8 lead on a Silver block to prompt a Santa Barbara timeout.
“I felt so comfortable tonight just letting them enjoy and they didn’t look frazzled,” Hug said of overcoming the fourth-set deficit. “It’s hard to not look too far down the road but I thought they had a good focus on the point at hand tonight.
“We put our attackers in really great positions and didn’t have to field too many out-of-system balls.”
The two teams then alternated points until it was tied at 12-12, which is when the Chargers rattled off three straight points to go up 15-12. They held a comfortable lead until it stood at 21-17.
A Dos Pueblos miscue followed by an ace from Costner, a kill by Kristian Dybdahl and a Zuffelato kill tied the game up at 21-21 and gave the Dons the momentum once again.
However, the Chargers responded once again with two straight points on a Ramko kill and a Silver ace to go up 23-21.
Zuffelato got the Dons one point closer with a kill, but Dos Pueblos closed out the 25-22 win on a kill out of the middle from Ramko and a block courtesy of Nathan Vincent.
Hug praised Vincent’s play throughout the matchup. The senior ended with 10 digs, two blocks, two aces and two kills.
“Nate Vincent had a ton of great digs and scrappy plays… he is a workhorse and I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for what he does for our team,” Hug said.
Evan Daugherty also had a strong day for the Chargers, racking up 15 kills and 10 digs in the win. Ramko collected 11 kills.
As for the Dons, Dybdahl finished the night with 10 kills while Jack Goligoski registered 22 digs and Chase Holdren had 41 assists.
“I knew this was going to be a tough match with Noah on the outside and [DP] didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Arneson said. “I give our kids a lot of credit for fighting, we’ve just got to figure it out and learn how to fight and compete until the end.”