Santa Barbara High dropped its girls volleyball season opener against visiting Saugus on Tuesday night, 25-16, 24-26, 25-14, 25-17.

“Our spirit and energy were unified, and I’m proud of the girls for setting that great tone at the beginning, especially since we are again a very young squad, with only two seniors,” said Dons’ coach Kristin Hempy. 

Middle attacker Lola Heckman led the Dons with six kills and had a block, while Jaqueline Darling had five kills and four digs. Libero Paylin Marcillac led the defense with 18 digs and served four aces.

“Lola had a nice performance, getting up early and strong in the middle, and we’ll continue to see more of her as the season progresses,” said Hempy. “Paylin led our defense well in the back row and showed great leadership. Jaqueline also performed strong in the middle and had great energy for us. Stella (Peus) and Makalya Sears both set a nice match, as we continue to work on our hitter/setter connection.

“There were a lot of great moments and runs for us, but we also got a good idea of what we need to continue working on in preseason.”

Santa Barbara travels to Mayfield in Pasadena on Thursday.

Barry Punzal is a Noozhawk contributing writer, and was for many years Noozhawk's sports editor. He can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.