Santa Ynez High girls beach volleyball pulled out a 3-2 victory over Dos Pueblos to begin the 2026 season on Tuesday afternoon in Santa Ynez.
“The girls did a great job controlling the ball in extremely stormy conditions today,” Santa Ynez head coach Melissa Rogers said. “Everyone was out of system; it simply came down to the teams that made the fewest errors.
“Consistent serving, controlling the ball and minimizing our mistakes were key.”
The Pirates were led to the non-league win by their top three pairings.
At Court 1, Santa Ynez’s Scarlett Ollenburger and Raina Snekvik defeated Allie Ben-Yaacov and Faith Harrison, 21-12, 21-15.
The Pirates continued to roll in the No. 2 matchup, where Lila Cassidy and Natalie Bailey battled to a three-set win over Ruby Dunlop and Gia Haas of Dos Pueblos, 23-21, 18-21, 15-8.
Addie Madrid and Kendall Herthel rounded out the Santa Ynez wins with a 21-14, 21-13 victory over Mary Shypulra and Hannah Wood.
The Chargers picked up their first win of the day when Kyra Sample and Maeve Jueger took down Haley Spry and Tatum Kay in the No. 4 matchup, 16-21, 21-18, 15-11.
The Dos Pueblos No. 5 duo of Mia Taylor and Emi Newton earned a win over Rori McDonald and Gianna Meza, 21-19, 21-10.
Santa Barbara High 5, Santa Monica 0
The Dons kicked off their campaign with a road sweep of Santa Monica on Tuesday.
“ It was a great, solid showing to start our season, and all our pairs had great communication and ball control in pretty windy conditions,” Santa Barbara High head coach Kristin Hempy said.
Lola Heckman and Kira Elliot rolled to a 21-8, 21-11 win at the No. 1 court, while Blake Saunders and Stella Peus followed suit on court two, 21-17, 21-12.
Natalia Yoshimi and Paylin Marcillac took care of business in the No. 3 shadow, 21-19, 21-17, and Jaqueline Durling and Grace Costner earned a quick victory as well at the fours, 21-8, 21-13.
The Dons put the finishing touches on the sweep when the No. 5 pairing of Gabby Cajuste and Phoebe Peterson cruised to a 21-8, 21-5 win.
Santa Barbara High will host Santa Ynez for a non-league matchup on Thursday at 3 p.m. at East Beach.