Laguna Blanca should cut this out and frame it, because it doesn’t happen too often.
The Owls, who are having an exceptional year in girls volleyball, caught San Marcos in a re-building year and picked up a 25-22, 25-14, 25-19 sweep at Merovick Gym on Wednesday. It was Laguna’s first-ever win over the Royals.
“We talked about it this week… We said that this might be the one chance we get to beat a Channel League team, and the girls came out and really proved themselves,” said Laguna coach Jim Alzina.
Senior Heidi van den Oever found out just a few minutes before the match that she was being moved from her usual middle blocker spot to the left side, and she responded by having a career performance with 11 kills and eight blocks.
“It was the best game of her life tonight by far, bar-none,” said Alzina.
Jackie Harvey was a game-time decision because of a bad back but ended up playing and thumped 18 kills.
San Marcos, meanwhile, got yet another strong performance out of libero Emma Campbell, who shoveled up 20 digs. Paulina King had a team-high six kills. Coach Erica Downing, however, was not pleased with the effort.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve been talking a lot about heart and playing as a team and it just didn’t show tonight,” she said.
Laguna Blanca's Jessie Ditmore goes up for a kill
The first game was back-and-forth in the early going. Laguna’s Amanda Harvey blasted a kill from the back row to end a long rally and put the hosts up 13-11 and later won a joust that made it 20-17. The Royals (2-10) battled back, however, and got within a point at 23-22 when Mallory Zaunius tallied an ace. She had gotten in on a block assist and notched a kill over a 5-point span before that.
Amanda Harvey then set two balls to older sister Jackie, who put both down to close out the set.
The younger Harvey had back-to-back aces as the Owls (13-1) swooped out to a 9-4 lead in the second set and ended the frame with eight consecutive points. the final three came on kills from van den Oever.
“I just played hard. I was out of position, but I tried my best and the sets were great. Everyone was playing really well tonight,” said the senior, who said she is hoping to play in college, possibly at Westmont.
The Royals led 9-6 at one point in the third set but the Owls, ranked sixth in Division IV-AA, went on a run shortly thereafter and had control for the rest of the match, which appropriately ended on a kill by van den Oever.
San Marcos hosts Santa Barbara on Wednesday while the Owls play at Thacher on Saturday.
Downing said that the Royals are hoping to pick up a Channel League win before the season ends, with the best opportunity for that coming at Ventura on November 5th.
HI COUSIN HEIDI
HI COUSIN HEIDI