The tremendous work rate of senior setter Cameron Earls and the potent hitting of Jack Wilson and Mason Rice sparked the San Marcos boys volleyball team to the championship at the 47th annual Dos Pueblos Invitational on Saturday at UCSB’s Thunderdome.
The Royals did not drop a set all day and defeated Sacramento’s Rio Americano, 25-20, in the one-game final.
It was the second straight DPI title for the Royals, who defeated El Camino Real, Harvard Westlake and La Cañada-St. Francis in the playoffs after going 3-0 in pool play against Santa Maria’s St. Joseph, Capo Valley Christian and Palisades Charter.
“As a team, we found our identity today and kept getting better as the day went on, said San Marcos coach Roger Kuntz. “ We found some answers to our questions and we rallied together.”
The semifinal against St. Francis was a rematch of last year’s final. The Royals prevailed 25-18.
Rio Americano spoiled an all-local final as it defeated host Dos Pueblos in the other semifinal.
Earls dished out more than 100 assists and was a force at the net with 12 solo blocks.
He was named the tournament MVP.
“Cameron went one on one with the best hitters in the tournament and shut down many of their attempts,” said Kuntz. “He distributed the ball to our middles Landon Sheffey and Declan McLintock, while our outsides feasted on his juicy sets”
Wilson and Rice blasted away on the outside. The seniors both were selected to the all-tournament team.
Kuntz also recognized libero Cliff Ficker for his spot-on passing.
He had an amazing tournament, leading our serve-receive to excel in system throughout the day.”
The Royals, ranked 13th in the CIF-SS Division 1-2 poll, improve to 19-2 overall on the season.
Dos Pueblos
The Chargers fell short in making it to the championship game, losing in the semifinals against Sacramento’s Rio Americano, 25-23.
Dos Pueblos went 3-0 in pool play, beating Saugus, Village Christian and Simi Valley. In the playoffs, the Chargers knocked off Palisades Charter and Eagle Rock. They tied for third place, their best DPI finish since 2018.
“The coaches and I are very pleased with our play today,” said coach Ehren Hug. “We had to rely on some new guys today and they fell right into place and helped us play some of our best volleyball this season come playoff time.”
He praised the play of captain and outside hitter Jan Schmidtchen, who was named to the all-tournament team.
“He was razor sharp all day. He was playing like the guy, straight up. He was commanding his jumper from the service line and in rhythm attacking in the front row.”
He had 32 kills, two blocks, 11 digs and seven aces on the day.
Hug also lauded the play of junior middles Noah Grant (21 kills, 8 blocks) and Liam Shields (14 kills, 6 blocks).
“They worked their butts off to close blocks, turn and transition to give the setters another option. Noah’s serve came into play in the playoffs and overall it was fun to watch our boys compete at the top of their game in the playoffs.”
The DP coach gave a huge shoutout to tournament director Chris Jones and all of the parent volunteers “whose hard work all day provided another magical day of high school volleyball.”
