A strong first day advanced San Marcos out of pool play but not any farther, as the Royals fell to Beckman in the opening round of bracket play on Saturday at the Dave Mohs Tournament.
The Royals defeated La Habra 25-22, 15-25, 15-11 and then Norco 25-18, 15-13 on Friday to start the tournament. On Day 2, San Marcos fell to Marina in its own gym 25-16, 25-18 and settled for second place in its group.
Beckman then brought down San Marcos for good 25-16, 25-18 in the first elimination round.
Royals coach Courtney Preston said that San Marcos’ success was aided by the strong play from Rachel Venturino, Katie Shara and Sam Flattery. Venturino committed just one hitting error on the weekend.
“We had two matches that were great wins,” Preston pointed out, without ignoring the losses. “And we also had some matches where we learned a lot about ourselves that will only help us to get better as a team.”
San Marcos hosts Oxnard on Tuesday and will be playing in the Royal Tournament this weekend before beginning Channel League play next week.
