San Marcos and Bishop Diego, both league champions and the area’s highest-ranked girls volleyball teams in the CIF-Southern Section ratings, squared off in their final match before the postseason and put on a playoff-worthy performance on Wednesday night.
In a match where leads see-sawed all night, San Marcos got a career-best 23 kills from junior Charlotte Hastings to lead three players in double figures and energize the No. 28 Royals to a five-set victory over the No. 63 Cardinals at Bishop Diego’s Brick House Gym. The scores were 25-23, 20-25, 27-25, 23-25, 15-7.
“We just focused on staying composed and having a lot of energy throughout,” said Hastings, who also contributed with her defense in the back row and tough serving.
Gracie Stone added 12 kills, middle Cora Loomer put away 10 kills and had a team-high six blocks and Reese Paskin had eight kills.
San Marcos coach Dwayne Hauschild felt Wednesday’s match was for the city championship.
“This city championship usually meant us or DP or Santa Barbara,” he said. “This year, the biggest dogs in the gym were Bishop, and we had to come in and prove that we belonged and we were the big dog. That is a talented team with a ton of great coaching and great kids. What’s true of a city championship is by playing the strongest team out there. Getting that five-game victory is huge.”
Bishop Diego coach Dillan Bennett was excited to see the Brick House packed to watch two strong local teams battle it out for five sets and see his seniors honored on their special night.
“San Marcos put up a great fight and we couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to play getting ready for whatever division of playoffs we’re going to be in,” said Bennett.
The Cardinals got a massive game from UCLA commit Eliana Urzua. She blasted 28 kills and served four aces. Nicole Schuetz, a Loyola Marymount commit, had 12 kills.
The teams slugged it out from the opening set. San Marcos broke an 18-18 tie on a kill by Paige Hoadley and expanded its lead to 22-19.
Schuetz scored from the back row to start a four-point Bishop run, giving the Cardinals a 23-22 lead. They almost reached game point, but Josie Gamberdella of the Royals made a huge dig and Hastings delivered a kill from the back row to tie the score.
“Charlotte is a great player and a great athlete, she hits the ball high, hard and deep,” said Bennett. “For a team like ours, the defense we run is not exactly suited for the way Charlotte played tonight. She found the holes in our defense. Hats off to her, she played a great match.”
Stone followed with a kill and combined with Loomer for a block to give the Royals a 25-23 win and a good start to the evening.
Bishop bounced back with a vengeance in the second set, roaring out to a 13-5 lead behind the hitting of Urzua and a couple of stuff blocks by middle Sophie Otte.
Hastings and Stone sparked a San Marcos rally and the Royals narrowed the deficit to 17-14. Eliana Urzua restored order for the Cardinals and her freshman sister Karina Urzua provided a huge block to key a second set victory.
There were big momentum swings in the third set. Bishop took an early 7-2 lead before San Marcos took charge and went up 16-8 and 20-13. The Cardinals chipped away and caught the Royals at 24-24 on another block by Karina Uruza. The teams traded points before San Marcos scored the final two points on a Hastings kill off the block and a putaway by Paskin for a 27-25 win.
Ahead 23-20, Bishop staved off a San Marcos comeback in the fourth set. The Royals got a big block to make it 24-23, but Wynter Thorne-Thomsen answered for the Cardinals with a roll shot for the win. That set up a deciding fifth set.
San Marcos made sure there wouldn’t be any drama in the fifth set as it went on a 7-0 run behind the strong serving of Hastings to take an 9-1 advantage. Loomer and Stone made plays at the net, and the Royals left the Brick House with a satisfying victory before heading into the playoffs.”
“The girls came into it with the mindset: ‘We’re going to win this thing.’ And I came into it (saying) this is a tuneup, so what ever happens, happens,” said Hauschild. “And now, after watching us tonight, we’re as ready as we can ever be by playing that caliber of team.”
The win on the last day of regular-season competition sends Channel League-champion San Marcos into next week’s playoffs with a record of 26-4. Bishop Diego, the Tri-Valley League champ, will enter the postseason with a 21-7 mark.
Each team will learn their playoff division and division pairings on Saturday.
