Dos Pueblos had a date at the Thunderhut on Tuesday evening for a Channel League match against San Marcos. The teams had met in the Tournament of Champions on Saturday morning and the Chargers had dominated, winning all three games handily. The effect on Tuesday’s game was predictable: Dos Pueblos came out flat, while the Royals came out fired up.
The first game was close throughout. San Marcos has plenty of weapons, the biggest being Andrew Grimes. Coach Jon Lee shuffled his starting lineup to get Grimes away from the main Chargers blockers; the ploy worked as he had numerous kills in the first game.
In a tight game, a Royals serve was allowed to land by the Chargers, but it hit the back line to give San Marcos a 22-20 lead, the crucial two-point advantage. Two sideouts later, the Chargers thought another serve was out, but it hit the side line, and San Marcos had a 24-21 lead.
At that point, however, Lee’s strategy backfired a bit as Grimes rotated back to serve as the Chargers seniors hit the front row. Dos Pueblos got a sideout to 22-24 and Will McCracken, who led DP with 12 kills and three aces, went back to serve. The Royals just needed a sideout to win game one. Grimes tried a tip from the back row, but it didn’t clear the net, so the score stood 23-24.
Last year’s Chargers earned the nickname “the Great Wall of Goleta” through their blocking prowess, featured in a 15-4 win in a game five against these Royals. A lot of that wall graduated, but the two remaining bricks are Ryan Beall and Ben Johnson. With the Dos Pueblos back row crowding forward looking for the tip, and some strong jump serves from McCracken forcing the outside to be set, Beall got a stuff block to 24-24, Johnson pushed the Chargers into the lead with another to 25-24, and Beall finished the game with a third-straight block.
The momentum never changed again. Dos Pueblos took the second game, 25-16, with Cody Zoesch coming off the bench with four kills. The crowd particularly enjoyed a sequence in which Johnson hammered a one set and then roofed Royals middle blocker Frank Nordin, who had matched up with the Chargers big man in basketball, too.
The third game ended 25-19 as Chargers reserves Tyler Howell, Mark Nuttman and Mac Montgomery all joined the kill club, none of them committing a hitting error.
With the 3-0 victory, Dos Pueblos improves to 18-8 on the season, 5-1 in the Channel League. An attractive nonleague match against Oaks Christian is set for Friday, and on Tuesday the Chargers host their old friends from Santa Barbara. Both games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Sovine gym.
Will Beall is a Dos Pueblos High parent.