Steele Canyon brought some big arm swings to Santa Barbara High’s J.R. Richards Gym for Thursday’s CIF State Tournament South Regional Division 3 girls volleyball quarterfinal.
The host Dons countered with an impressive blocking performance and took down the CIF-San Diego Section Division 3 champions in a 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 sweep to advance to the semifinals.
Top-seeded Santa Barbara (28-11) will host No. 4 Helix High, the San Diego Section’s Division 2 runner-up, on Saturday at a time to be determined. The winner plays in the regional final on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
The Dons’ front line players did a good job at containing Steele Canyon’s potent outside hitters Taylor Carpenter, Kate Ryan and Crisa Garcia and middle Tiana Baker.
Middle blockers Lola Heckman and Jacqueline Durling, outsides Blake Saunders, Kira Elliott and Eloise Becker and setter Jules Horton got their hands on several attacks and scored points on blocked balls. Heckman led the way with six blocks, while Horton and Durling had two apiece.
“That was really an asset for us, our blocking stepped up a lot,” Santa Barbara coach Kristin Hempy said. “We knew they had some powerful arms — their No. 3 (Carpenter) is a good hitter —so we really talked about sealing our block, having our pins set the block and really pressing.
“I thought our blocking really paid off and our offense was able to be pretty successful, too.”
Horton (34 assists) ran a balanced attack. Saunders, hitting from the left, right, middle and the back row, led the Dons with 11 kills, Elliott put away seven and Heckman and Becker each had five kills.
Kira got Santa Barbara going early with four kills in the first set.
“She’s a really smart volleyball player. She plays a lot of beach, so she knows how to place the ball and she can also come in and hammer it and hammer the angles,” said Hempy. “She has that court vision and that high volleyball IQ that makes her really effective.”
Road-weary Steele Canyon, which on Tuesday played at L.A. Venice, found its rhythm in the second set. The Cougars used tough serving and the hitting of Carpenter and Baker to rally from a 17-9 deficit and take a 23-22 lead.
Santa Barbara regrouped as Becker sided out from the right side and Saunders followed with a kill from the left to regain the lead, 24-23. After a serving error tied the score, Durling scored from the middle and the Dons collected the set-winning point on a Steele Canyon setting miscue.
The Dons never trailed in the third set.
They’ll now play their third straight state tournament match at home — the luxury of being a No. 1 seed in this competition.
“It’s a big deal. It’s a huge advantage and we talk about it a lot: taking advantage of that gift that’s been given to us,” said Hempy.
The Dons are 5-0 at home during the postseason, and they haven’t lost at J.R. Richards Gym since the opening match of their Tournament of Champions against San Clemente back on Sept. 25.
