Dani Rottman had 29 kills in Santa Barbara’s semi-final match against Presentation at the Archbishop Mitty Tournament in San Jose, but the Dons lost in a heartbreaking fifth set and finished fourth overall.
“Dani was just all over the place that game,” assistant coach Kelly Patterson said.
Santa Barbara was on cloud nine after their quarter-final victory over Palo Alto, the tournament’s top seed and the fifth ranked team in the nation. They carried the momentum from the previous day’s victory into the match against Presentation and won the first set 25-21. The rest of the game was back and forth with the scores at 17-25, 25-19, 16-25, and 16-14.
Remi Pulice had 11 kills, and Tessa Dewell added 10 more.
“It was a whole team effort,” Patterson said. “Everyone just stepped up a lot.”
After the disappointing end to the semi-final, the exhausted Dons faced tournament host Archbishop Mitty in a third-place consolation match, and lost in straight sets.
With an excellent tournament showing, Santa Barbara will carry plenty of confidence into their Channel League opener against Buena at home on Thursday.
