San Marcos came through in crunch time to turn back a feisty, determined Dos Pueblos squad in a five-set Channel League boys volleyball battle on Thursday night at Sovine Gym.
Down two sets to one, the Royals got a huge serving run from junior Matteo Burdick in the fourth set and knotted the match at 2-2. They rode the momentum into the fifth and pulled out their third league win while handing DP its first league loss.
The match scores were 19-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-15, 15-5.
“Rivalry games you can never overlook,” said San Marcos coach Dave Goss of the intense match. “Dos Pueblos is gunning for us. They played outstanding, they were on it. Their energy was great.”
The Chargers threw off the potent San Marcos attack with off-speed float serves. That, along with solid blocking and a scrambling back-row defense, enabled them to take a 2-1 advantage.
“One aspect of our game that they really beat us in was their serving versus our passing,” said Goss. “We could not pass in the first three games, and it was with float serves. Our overhand passing was just not close to adequate. We weren’t in system and they beat us.”
Dos Pueblos coach Ehren Hug was pleased to see the game plan work.
“I thought all night our serving was slow and focused, and that was something we were trying to pinpoint at practice,” said Hug. “I thought they did great. Owen Andrews started us out with a nice six- or seven-point service run in the first (set). It’s just so nice to have that little cushion when you start a match off, especially against a good team like San Marcos.”
San Marcos senior setter Tyler Walker said handling the float serve has been an issue in the early season.
“When we play a team that’s mainly jump serving, we’re very happy. We struggle with float serves. We just talked about it and we’re gonna go in tomorrow (at practice) and pass float serves for two hours straight.”
Ironically, serving played a pivotal part in San Marcos’ comeback. Burdick blasted rocket jump serves and went on an 8-0 run to rally the Royals from a 4-1 deficit to a 9-4 lead in the fourth set. He racked up three aces in the run and bombed a back-row attack that caromed off the head of a DP blocker and nearly hit the ceiling.
DP’s block and defense had done a good job containing Burdick, who also was getting an earful from some DP student fans. But last year’s co-MVP in the Channel League, showed his mental toughness and delivered when his team needed him most.
“For Matteo, I’d say don’t poke the bear,” said Walker of his teammate rising to the occasion. “Matteo is really good, but when he gets motivated it’s a whole other level of serving, passing… He’s probably the best player I’ve ever played with, when he’s really out there playing hard.”
Burdick led all attackers with 20 kills on a .278 hitting percentage and served seven aces. Owen Willer was next for the Royals with 11 kills and Jamie Hetrick had nine kills.
Keanu Nguyễn, who is Burdick’s beach volleyball partner (the pair earned a triple-A rating last summer), followed with a five-point service run, extending San Marcos’ lead to 14-5 in the fourth set.
Walker got the Royals rolling to a 5-1 start in the fifth set. He fed Koji Hefner for a kill in the middle, put away his sixth on-two dump of the match and notched a solo block.
Walker said he’s got a good sense of when it’s the right time to surprise the defense with a dumped ball.
“After year three (on the varsity), I’ve dumped a lot. I know the game well enough to know where to dump at this point. I know if I keep going in the middle, eventually the back side will open up so I can dump back there.”
The Royals took full control of the fifth set, blocking for points and converting touches into kills. Willer finished the match with a kill from the right side followed by back-to-back aces.
Hug said falling behind early in the fifth set made things tough for the Chargers.
“In a game to 15, you can’t fall behind too early. We just came out on the wrong end at the start and it’s kind of difficult to double back.”
Dos Pueblos was led by Ben Wojogbe with 11 kills, six digs and three blocks. Tennyson Riley and Leo Hine each had five kills and Cyrus Jay and Owen Ribbens contributed four apiece.
The Chargers are now 7-3 on the season and 2-1 in league. San Marcos is 8-2, 3-0. Both teams will be competing in the Dos Pueblos Invitational on Saturday at UC Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome.