A green and gold gorilla jumped off of Chris Hughes’ back on Tuesday night.
In his ninth season, the Dos Pueblos boys volleyball coach finally beat mighty Santa Barbara, and did so in impressive fashion. Led by co-captain Will McCracken, the Chargers committed only 10 total unforced errors in a 25-15, 25-19, 27-25 sweep. The Dons, meanwhile, missed 12 serves and at one point committed seven errors in a 12-point span.
It ended a remarkable streak of 40 consecutive Channel League victories for the Dons, leaving sixth-year Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson with the first league loss of his career.
Dos Pueblos senior Kyle Hoffman puts down one of his 10 kills around the block of Santa Barbara’s Gavin Trudeau.
“You’ve gotta give DP all the credit. They played well. I’m happy for them. They finally got of the schneid, and obviously the record can only last for so long,” said Arneson. “Obviously we didn’t play our A game.”
He also said that he was particularly happy for McCracken, a hard-working, 6-foot gym rat who not only sets for DP but also carries the team’s heaviest arm swing. He had eight kills on the night.
“I’m happy for McCracken. I think he did a really good job throughout the match, and he’s a good kid with, I think, a really bright future at the next level. I hope somebody finds him,” he said.
The signature moment of the match came with DP leading 19-16 in the second game. Imposing Santa Barbara middle blocker Clifford Anderson, who stands at 6-8, got a set on the outside and took a big swing at it only for McCracken to send it right back down with an authoritative block.
“Clifford’s a great player, and a giant player. I’ve just been wanting to block him for a long time now, because he’s been hitting over me. But it was great to finally get one back,” said McCracken.
Alec Smyth led the Dons with seven kills, while Anderson finished with just three on the night, an indicator that the Santa Barbara offense as a whole was out of sync.
“We’re just not gonna get it done if we can’t get our middles going,” said Arneson.
The Dons tried changing the formula in the third game, moving sophomore Gavin Trudeau from setter to outside hitter and having senior Blake Williams come in to run the offense. Dos Pueblos, meanwhile didn’t change a thing.
“What we were doing was working,” said Hughes. “I noticed that, and I said ‘let them try to beat us.’ We were happy just to stay with what worked.”
Outside hitter Kyle Hoffman was DP’s kill leader with 10 on just 15 swings while fellow senior Gabe Duncan put down five kills on seven attempts. DP’s tough serving, according to Hughes, was a key factor in disrupting Santa Barbara’s passing and offense as a whole.
Hughes was ecstatic for his players, 11 of which are seniors.
“Santa Barbara’s just been excellent, and for my four-year players to beat them with this group is just huge. It’s a huge win for the program, and like I said, that win is for a lot of players who have sweated to try to beat them,” he said.
While DP big-men Robbie Mestas and Michael Ellsworth put up a formidable block in the middle, fiery 5-8 libero Cole Arutian was shoveling up some key digs. The most impressive, perhaps, came with the score tied at 11 in the third game. A ball was rocketed to the floor only to be scooped up by Arutian. The dig came out like a perfect pass, and led to a Duncan kill to break the tie.
“That was a fabulous dig, and such a momentum-builder. Blocks and digs build momentum — their heads go down, and our heads go up. Volleyball is a game of energy, and we had the energy tonight,” said Hughes.
He knows that there will be more than a little energy in the building when the Chargers, now 2-0 in league, visit Santa Barbara (5-3, 1-1) on April 27th.
“Yeah, we gotta play at Santa Barbara next. That’s a whole different game, and we understand that,” he said.
Right now, he’s just happy that gorilla is gone.
FINALLY! NO MORE SB DOMINANCE, END OF AN ERA
FINALLY! NO MORE SB DOMINANCE, END OF AN ERA