It wasn’t a cakewalk for the second-ranked Santa Barbara High girls volleyball team, but the Dons ended the regular season on Thursday with a 25-11, 19-25, 27-25, 25-21 win at Buena.
“The outcome was certainly not a forgone conclusion. Cameron Ohl is doing a great job with that program as a first-year head coach,” said Dons assistant coach Lee Carlander. “They ran a nice little offense and played some solid defense… Volleyball is back in Ventura.”
Kira Schleich stepped in for setter Katherine Keller, who was out sick, and did an admirable job running the offense along with Rose Lewis, according to Carlander. Emily Rottman had an impressive double-double with 19 kills and 15 digs, and younger sister Dani had 12 kills with two blocks on the right side. Libero Sarah Mendoza shoveled up 19 digs and went on a service run that helped the Dons climb out of an early hole in the fourth set.
The defending CIF champs finished league play at 6-2 and are 28-4 since head coach John Gannon and Carlander took the reins four years ago. They are 18-8 overall this season.
Next up is the playoffs, with seedings set to be released late Sunday night.
“We haven’t really been 100-percent healthy all year, but we feel like once we get Katherine back we’ll find the ‘Big Mo’,” said Carlander. “Call it what you will — momentum or mojo. It’s fickle, but once we find it we’re excited about making our playoff run.”
