Santa Barbara High girls beach volleyball had its season come to a close with a 5-0 loss to Bishop Montgomery in the opening round of the CIF-SS Div. 2 playoffs on Wednesday in Torrance.
“Overall, this was a great group of girls, and though we’d have loved to go further in the playoffs, I’m proud of them for a fun and successful season,” Santa Barbara High head coach Kristin Hempy said.
The No. 1 duo of Lola Heckman/Kira Elliott (8-21, 12-21) and the No. 2 pairing of Paylin Marcillac/Stella Peus (8-21, 16-21) dropped their respective matchups for the Dons.
“Lola and Kira had a great season for us at the ones. Unfortunately, they got off to a bit of a slow start this match and couldn’t quite get the momentum back up,” Hempy said. “I’m proud of how Stella and Paylin bounced back and put up a great battle in the second set, enduring long rallies and making lots of great touches.”
Grace Costner/Tali Yoshimi then lost their matchup at the threes, 15-21, 19-21, and Phoebe Peterson/Gabby Cajuste fell in the No. 4 showdown, 8-21, 12-21.
“[Costner/Yoshimi] had great energy and communication across the board,” Hempy said. “[Peterson/Cajuste] did a nice job controlling their serve receive against a strong serving pair from Bishop Montgomery.”
At court five, Delilah Ficker/Naomi Rowan rounded out the match for Santa Barbara with a 16-21, 11-21 loss.
“[Ficker/Rowan] did great work at the net, forcing Bishop’s offense to be creative,” Hempy said.