A wayward ball took out a light in the ceiling at Sovine Gym during warm-ups Thursday night, leaving a blanket of broken glass to be swept off the floor.
Then came Santa Barbara High’s turn to sweep up Dos Pueblos.
Chris Pratt looked virtually unstoppable for the Dons’ volleyball team, pounding 19 kills and racking up seven blocks in Santa Barbara’s 25-15, 25-20, 25-23 win, the team’s 33rd straight in the Channel League under coach Chad Arneson.
“I’m really, really happy with the way I’m playing, but I can only thank my teammates for passing the ball and getting everything there. We’re all playing the best volleyball we’ve played all year,” said Pratt. “We have a lot of energy and we’re getting pumped up over everything.”
Arneson agreed.
“It was a great team effort across the board, and Chris put on a show out there,” said the coach. “That was quite a performance. I never seen somebody take over a match like that. But our passers don’t get enough credit, and this team as a whole is just a special group that is having a lot of fun and showing good energy.”
That’s something that undersized Chargers (13-6, 4-1) were going to need to do in a big way if they were going to upset the Dons (13-4, 4-0), who made an impressive run to the Tournament of Champions final last weekend, where they fell to No. 2 Mira Costa in five sets.
“The mighty Dons, you’ve got to hand it to them. That’s a very good team,” said DP coach Chris Hughes. “It all starts with Pratt. If you can’t stop him, it’s game over… They’re the No. 2 team in the state, and they have all the confidence in the world.”
The Chargers’ big guns, on the other hand, were stopped. Standout Will McCracken had a rough night offensively with six kills on 21 swings, and Jordon Dyer had six on 15 attempts.
“Will had an off-game. I think Santa Barbara concentrated on him, and that didn’t help his game,” said Hughes. “But he’s a good enough player as a junior to come back and be a different person the next time we play them.”
Hughes said that Cole Arutian’s passing was a strong point, while Cody Zoesch held his own offensively in the middle. Brian Schoneberger, meanwhile, drew praise from Hughes and assistant coach Larry Vranish for his performance. The fiery 6-4 senior opposite put away six kills and did his best to get the enthusiasm up on the hosts’ side.
“We played our game, but we haven’t faced that team in awhile. Chris Pratt is a good player and he kind of had us stumped there for a little while,” said Schoneberger. “We’re gonna get ’em next time. We’re still on the way up, and I think they’ve peaked a bit.”
Pratt, a 6-5 middle blocker, put away the match’s first point by detonating a Sam Biscaro set in the middle. He would do it three more times in Santa Barbara’s first 11 points, a pace that had the Dons up 11-8 in a hurry.
The University of Hawaii-bound Biscaro then stepped to the service line and took it all the way up to 17-8 before DP’s Dillan Bennett ended the run with an off-speed finesse shot from the right side. DP’s passing broke down late in the set, however, and Santa Barbara took its cue to cruise the rest of the way.
Pratt put one away to break a 9-9 tie in the second frame, and Taylor Fauntleory went back-toback for two of his eight kills to get things to 17-13, and the lead would never dip below three. Pratt opened up the final set with a roof block, but DP hung around and had the score knotted up at 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 20, 21 and 22.
Tim Baxter made a great up to keep a ball alive on DP’s side, but a hitting error two touches later gave the Dons a 23-22 advantage. Guess who put down the final point on a kill in the middle.
Arneson added that libero Will Boucher’s passing was exceptional on the night.
The teams meet again at J.R. Richards Gym on May 7th.
