San Marcos girls water polo punched its ticket to the Channel League Tournament championship with a 17-4 win over Santa Barbara High on Tuesday at San Marcos.
The Royals will now take on rival Dos Pueblos in the title matchup on Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. at Elings Aquatic Center. The last time these two teams squared off, San Marcos rolled to an 18-3 win.
With that win, the Royals clinched at least a share of the league title after going undefeated in league play in the regular season. If San Marcos wins on Wednesday, it will be crowned the outright champion.
San Marcos jumped out to a 6-0 lead against its rival Dons and kept rolling into the second, building the advantage to 10-0 by halftime. From there, the Royals cruised to the lopsided win.
The duo of Charlotte Raisin and Natalie Klan led the offensive outburst for San Marcos with five goals apiece, while Ryah Ma scored twice.
Bethany King and Anna Jacobsen split time in the cage for the Royals and tallied four blocks apiece.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara High’s Violette Bailey ended the game with three goals and two steals, while Rose Nelley scored once as well.
Dos Pueblos
The Chargers earned first-round and semifinal victories on Tuesday to advance to the league tournament championship game on Wednesday.
Dos Pueblos began the day with a 20-2 rout of Rio Mesa and followed it with a 14-10 win over Buena.
The Chargers scored early and often against Rio Mesa, netting seven goals in each of the first two quarters while holding the Spartans scoreless for the first three to pull away for the win.
Parker Bryant scored four goals, while Juliet Writes, Cora Smith and Devon Fitzgibbons scored three goals apiece. Meanwhile, Cierra Furneaux blocked a pair of shots in the cage.
In the semifinals, the Chargers found themselves trailing 8-7 midway through the third period. However, Dos Pueblos turned it around and outscored Buena 7-2 down the stretch to pull out the win.
Kyra Jones poured in a team-high four goals against the Bulldogs, while Talia Marshall scored three goals and dished out four assists. Lucy Watson scored twice and tallied three steals, and Reagan Mack anchored the defense with 12 saves.
Santa Barbara High
Before their loss to San Marcos, the Dons cruised to a 16-6 victory over Ventura in a first-round matchup.
Ventura trimmed an early Santa Barbara lead down to 7-5 in the third, but the Dons then rattled off seven unanswered goals to put the game away for good.
Jules Horton was ultra-efficient in the win, scoring eight goals on nine shots. Meanwhile, Bailey scored four goals and earned four exclusions.
Luna Morancey and Nelley each scored twice, Kana Wolf dished out three assists and Sasha Jones collected seven saves.
The Dons will take on Buena for the third-place matchup on Wednesday at 3:10 p.m. at Elings Aquatic Center.