The pieces all came together on championship night for the San Marcos boys volleyball team.
With an outright Channel League title at stake against crosstown rival and second-place Santa Barbara High, the Royals turned in a complete performance and rolled to a 25-17, 25-10, 25-22 sweep to claim their third straight outright championship — their second under coach Dave Goss — on Tuesday night at the Thunderhut.
San Marcos, which finished 10-0 in league and is now 25-2 overall, played solid in all phases of the game and looked primed to make a deep run in the CIF-SS Playoffs, which begin next week.
The defense frustrated Santa Barbara as libero Keanu Nguyen spearheaded a tenacious effort.
“I thought we played with a lot of intensity that we’ve been working on in practice,” said Nguyen, who threw his body on the floor several times to keep the ball in play and did a nice job covering the attackers at the net. “I thought our blocking was great, which really helps with the defense because if our blocks are in the same spot every time, we can play defense at the same spot and the balls are just coming to us.
“I thought Tyler (Walker) did a great job on the right back tonight, he was diving all over the place; same with (Owen) Willer. I thought we did a good job.”
Said Goss of Nguyen’s performance: “You saw an all-CIF player tonight in Keanu. That type of performance… I can’t even begin to count how many balls he dug and plays he kept alive by his hustle. He passed terrifically and served great.”
Knowing that a win would give them a share of the title, the Dons (17-7, 8-2) came out strong in the opening set. They got kills from Hayes Costner and Kristian Dybdahl and an ace serve from Maddox Denver to take an early lead. Costner and Dybdahl each had five kills to lead Santa Barbara.
The match turned after a Willer cross-court kill gave San Marcos a 14-13 lead. On the next play, it looked like the Dons would tie the score but Willer dug a ball and the Royals converted it into a point. Then, Matteo Burdick went off at the service line. He ripped back-to-back jump-serve aces and added another during a five-point run for a 19-13 advantage.
The Royals turned a Walker dig into a kill by middle Koji Hefner and Hefner put away two more kills down the stretch before Kalea Anderson finished the first set with an ace.
“They’re a pretty mentally sound team,” said Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson of the Royals. “They’re mentally stronger than us at this point — they’re kind of pulling all on the same rope, so to speak. I’ve got to give a shout out to Goss, he’s definitely got some good players.
“I was hoping our boys could have responded a little better knowing what was at stake. We tried but we just couldn’t put it together.”
Everything was clicking for San Marcos in the second set. The Royals made a spectacular play to go up 15-5. Willer made a diving, one-handed scoop of the ball at the sideline and the ball was set to Burdick for a kill. Burdick put an exclamation point on the second set with a solo block. He led a balanced attack with 13 kills, Willer put down nine kills, Hefner had eight, Jamie Hetrick seven and Kalea Anderson six.
Goss said the team has made “incremental steps” in improving their game over the last month. It really showed on the defensive side Tuesday.
“It’s a hustle and an attitude thing, and our boys are executing it now at the right time of the season,” he said. “I’m really confident that we have improved over this last month as much as any team we’re going to face, and I’m encouraged by the trajectory the team is on right now.”
The Royals rallied from an early deficit in the third set and took the lead for good on a middle back-slide attack executed by Walker and Hefner.
“We’re spreading the ball around,” said Goss. “Tyler is now running guys on the same route, he’s mixing it up. I could not be more proud of this team and the leaders, specifically Tyler Walker, Keanu Nguyen and Matteo Burdick. They set the tone by their effort and their execution.”
San Marcos and Santa Barbara will learn their CIF-SS playoff division and draw on Saturday.
