Chris Pratt and his fellow Santa Barbara High spikers were smiling more than usual on the volleyball court Friday.
“We had the highest energy we’ve had all season, and that’s what we’ve been trying to focus on,” said Pratt, who put away 10 kills with three aces and five blocks as the Dons swept a spirited Royal squad to advance to the semifinals of the Karch Kiraly Tournament of Champions.
The Dons will play Newport Harbor at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at J.R. Richards Gym with a trip to the finals on the line. Dos Pueblos, which lost to Newport 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 in Friday’s nightcap, will play Royal at 9 a.m.
The Highlanders, whom the Dons face in their season-opener every season, are a small but incredibly feisty squad which battled Santa Barbara to five games before losing this season’s opener. But Pratt and the Dons matched Royal’s energy in Friday’s match and it made all the difference.
“That was a real character-builder for our team,” said coach Chad Arneson. “That was one of our biggest wins of the year. We hung in there, we went on some big runs and I’m just really proud of our guys. We’re right where we want to be.”
Santa Barbara breezed over West Ranch in its first match of the day, 25-12, 25-10, 25-11.
DP took down Thousand Oaks 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 in the Chargers’ opening match, but ran into a wall against defending champion Newport Harbor. Will McCracken had 13 kills and Cody Zoesch chipped in 11.
“They were a solid team. They were big and they had some big jump serves that we didn’t pass,” said DP setter Tim Baxter. “But a lack of energy or motivation wasn’t the reason we lost today.”
The Chargers struggled from the service line, missing three in a row at one point in the third game.
“They out-served us and out-passed us, and if you don’t have a lot of guys on your team who can serve like that it’s hard to practice for. That showed tonight,” said coach Chris Hughes.
San Marcos was also in action and dropped its opener to Corona del Mar 25-23, 25-13, 25-14 before moving on to face Buchanan in the evening match. Results were not available late Friday night.
