Dos Pueblos’ top-ranked girls volleyball team stuck an ostrich-sized feather in its cap on Saturday, winning a pair of 5-set matches before sweeping host Torrey Pines to win the California Challenge Tournament.
Stanford-bound senior Carly Wopat was named the tournament’s MVP.
Santa Barbara High, which had gone 2-0 along with DP in Friday’s pool play, dropped both of its matches Saturday and finished seventh.
DP faced mighty La Costa Canyon in the morning match, dropping the first two sets 21-25 and 16-25 before rallying back to win the final three sets 29-27, 25-19, 15-10. Coach Todd Garrett said that Megan Smith and Nicki Brown came alive at the service line to help bring the Chargers back into the match, and that sophomore lefty Taylor Racich’s blocking was also a big factor.
Next up was another powerhouse opponent, Mira Costa. DP won the first two sets 27-25, 25-22, before losing a close third set 26-28 and dropping the fourth 18-25. DP took the deciding fifth set 15-10.
The Chargers then swept Torrey Pines 25-15, 25-22, 25-21 for the title.
“Watching the finals, you wouldn’t have guessed we had already played two matches on the day,” said Garrett. “The girls came out against Torrey Pines on fire and they looked really fresh.”
Setters Paige Craine and Sammie Brown were named to the all-tournament squad, and Garrett said that Sally Yingst and Sam Wopat were also crucial contributors throughout the weekend.
The Dons began the day with a 25-23, 25-17, 25-15 loss to Torrey Pines. Eve Ettinger had 14 kills and Emily Rottman chipped in 11. Sarah Mendoza added 15 digs in the losing effort.
“We played great on Friday, but we just dodn;t come out and play strong this morning,” said coach Lee Carlander.
Ettinger put away 17 more kills and Rottman added 13 in the second game against Santa Margarita — a team which Santa Barbara had beaten earlier in the season — but the Dons fell in five sets, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 17-25, 16-14.
“We had a nice win in the first set, but then we kind of became one-dimensional,” said head coach John Gannon.
Both teams resume Channel League play on Thursday, when DP hosts Buena and Santa Barbara pays a visit to Ventura.
