A balanced attack carried the Laguna Blanca boys volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-11, 25-11 sweep over St. Bonaventure in a Tri-Valley League opener on Tuesday at Merovick Gym.
Middle Kincade Avery paced the Owls with 10 kills and Tyson Deveze put away seven kills from the outside to go with nine service aces and five digs.
Setter Liam Knezevic dished out 25 assist, had four aces and eight digs.
“Each match we aim to get better and we improved throughout the course of tonight’s match,” said assistant coach Kat Niksto. “Caden Weaver led the team in passing and Liam showed off his defensive skills leading the team in digs.”
The Owls (5-0, 1-0) are home again on Thursday against Dunn.
Foothill Tech 3, Bishop Diego 2
Bishop Diego lost its Tri-Valley League opener against the visiting Dragons, 16-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11.
“Foothill Tech played tough and they didn’t make many mistakes,” said Bishop coach Dillan Bennett. “For us, we’ll use this experience to learn from our mistakes — 64 to be exact. It’s really hard to win a match when you give the other team 64 points.
“The team gels well, works hard, but we have a tendency to give up too many points on our own missteps.”
Braylon Katers led the Cardinals with 22 kills and two aces. Nick Malesky hit .571 out of the middle and Canaan Ramirez had 16 digs.
The Cardinals (3-2 overall) look to bounce back against Santa Ynez on Thursday in the Brick House.
Beach Volleyball
Hallie Riley won her first beach volleyball match, combining with Malia Brofferio on the No. 3 court, to help Dos Pueblos beat Ventura, 5-0, in a Channel League opener at the Cougars’ courts.
Brofferio/Riley won 21-18, 21-13.
Makeila Cervantes and Maddy Jones moved up to the No. 2 spot and won 21-15, 21-16.
“They played at a high level all day,” said coach Mike Fitzgerald.
“A good overall team win in tough windy, cold, rainy conditions.”
The Chargers are 3-0 on the season.
Dos Pueblos results:
1. Chloe Hoffman and Lucy Speier won 21-12, 21-12
2. Makeila Cervantes and Maddy Jones won 21-15, 21-16
3. Malia Brofferio and Hallie Riley won 21-18, 21-13
4. Addison Low and Sonia Mancuso won 21-11, 21-15
5. Layla McQuiggan and Ella Benson won 21-16, 21-16
Girls Lacrosse
The Santa Barbara girls lacrosse team trailed by just two goals at halftime, but Simi Valley dominated the second half and defeated the Dons, 18-6, in a non-league game Tuesday at Peabody Stadium.
“We just ran out of stamina,” said Santa Barbara coach Elayne Blessing. “Being a small team, sometimes this can happen. But I was proud of my girls for playing as hard as they did.”
Daisy Foreman and Abigail Gaston each scored two goals and Bridget Blinderman and Kata Olvera had one apiece.
Olivia Battles led the Dons’ defense and Pepper Marks made her debut at goalie after finishing sixth at the CIF State Wrestling Championships.
“With 11 saves, she definitely made her presences known,” said Blessing.
Valencia 11, San Marcos 9
The Royals fell behind 4-0 in the first nine minutes and their rally came up short in an 11-9 non-league loss against Valencia on a rainy night at Warkentin Stadium.
“I’m pleased with the team effort once we started to rally, but we know what we need to do during warmups to get ready to play and we didn’t do it,” said San Marcos coach Paul Ramsey. “The focus and effort getting up to game speed before the game just wasn’t there for us tonight and we seemed distracted.”
He noted that the team played without three starting attackers.
Junior Mia Martinez-Tomatis led the Royals with four goals and three assists for a career-high seven points. Two of her assists went to junior Jaymi Springer who finished with three goals.
San Marcos drops to 2-1 and plays next on Thursday at Saugus.