The red-hot Santa Barbara High girls volleyball team won its first two matches at the Archbishop Mitty Tournament, including a match against top-seeded Palo Alto, which won the Division I state championship and finished the 2010 season ranked second in the nation.
Dani Rottman finished the day with a combined 36 kills, and Kira Schleich continued her eye-popping assist statistics with 87 assists in two matches. Middle blockers Remi Pulice and Holland Crenshaw also had exceptional days to help the Dons play at a level required to beat such stiff competition.
The team’s first match was against Frontier High from Bakersfield. Santa Barbara started slow and lost the first game 14-25, but pulled together and finished the match 25-21, 25-18, and 25-21.
The second match was a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle. The scores were 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 17-25, and 15-13.
“It was so fun to see the girls come together and mesh well on the court,” head coach John Gannon said. “It was a great day for Don volleyball.”
The Dons’ incredible day has earned them a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament against Presentation at 12:00 PM tomorrow.
