Santa Barbara tied for fifth place at the 32-team Best of the West Invitational volleyball tournament over the weekend at Poway High School, after sweeping pool play Friday and going 1-2 in Saturday’s draw.
Dos Pueblos finished 2-4 for the tournament, with coaches pleased at valiant efforts in the prestigious tournament.
Santa Barbara
The Dons started Friday beating Westview, Tesoro (Ariz.) and Servite.
“Ford Harman ran a 5-1 offense and he did a great job setting the tone for our team,” Dons coach Chad Arneson said. It’s nice to have him back running our offense.”
The team continued the momentum Saturday, opening with a 25-18, 25-17 sweep of ‘Iolani of Honolulu.
In the quarterfinals, the Dons ran into eventual tournament winner Newport Harbor and lost in two games. Newport Harbor won CIF Division 1 last year.
The last match, Santa Barbara lost to Mira Costa in two games.
“Setter Chase Holdren and Opposite hitter Austin Jaimes stepped it up against Mira Costa,” Arneson said.
“Overall, this was a great showing for Santa Barbara High, and I was pleased with our growth throughout the tournament. It was definitely a much-needed tournament, considering we’re going to be playing San Marcos away on Tuesday night.”
Outside hitter Raglan Kear earned All Tournament Team selection for the Dons.
“Raglan was really steady throughout the tournament and showed his dominance when we needed him to perform,” Arneson said.
Standout players for the tournament were Mikey Denver in the middle, opposite hitter Will Harman, and Ford Harman “did a great job setting,” Arneson said. “I was also pleased with Luke Zuffelato’s performance throughout the day.”
Santa Barbara’s overall record is now 6-2.
Dos Pueblos
“The Chargers battled valiantly for two days at one of the premier high school tournaments in the state,” Dos Pueblos coach Ehren Hug said. “The coaches and I are so proud of their focus and grit this weekend. We learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to improve upon, but our passion for the game and competition were never in question.”
The Chargers opened Friday with a 2-1 win over St. Francis (Northern California), on scores of 25-19, 21-25, 15-10. They then lost to Beckman 2-0 and Carlsbad 2-1.
On Saturday, Dos Pueblos opened with a win over Mountain View, 25-15, 25-20, before falling to Central Section’s Sanger, 2-1, and Westview, 2-0.
Micah Goss led the Chargers’ offense with 32 kills for the tournament, adding 12 blocks and 11 digs. Ewan Richards had 25 kills, 20 digs, eight aces, 7 assists, 5 blocks Matthew Wilcox had 24 kills, five blocks, and six digs. Jan Schmidtchen added 20 kills, eight aces, four blocks and 14 digs.
Grant Hughes dished out 91 assists and had nine kills, 21 digs, six blocks, and two aces.
“Senior setter and captain Grant Hughes set a great tournament,” Hug said. “He made some incredible sets from his knees or falling out of the court all the way across the court — he was getting after it. His fire for competition is infectious and teammates where matching him.
“Micah Goss at the opposite was one such teammate — dazzling the crowds with high flying attacks and athletic blocks. He’s taking care of business for sure.”
“We were hooting and hollerin’ till the last whistle Saturday afternoon,” Hug said
The Chargers play away at Buena on Tuesday at 6:30.