Santa Barbara High advanced to the second round of the CIF Division 1-AA volleyball playoffs by sweeping visiting Royal 25-18, 25-14, 26-24 on Tuesday at J.R. Richards Gym.
“We started out serving tough and put pressure on them from the start,” said Dons coach John Gannon. “They had a hard time getting the ball to the middle and our block was strong.”
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The third game was tied until Royal broke ahead with a service run. Santa Barbara’s Holland Crenshaw tied it up again at 18-18 with a kill off the block. Later in the game, an overturned call by the referee gave the Dons the advantage and the lead.
A dig by Emma Mascari and two consecutive dumps from setter Kira Schleich expanded the lead. But Royal stayed alive and tied the score at 24-24. A side-out and kill off the head of a Highlanders player by Schleich would end the match.
“In those two long rallies at the end, I knew they were fighting for their season. It was good to see us get after it in the third set,” said Gannon.
“We are trying to run things faster; Kira is doing a good job getting the ball to the hitters quicker,” said Gannon.
“We played well as a team,” said Dani Rottman “We took care of business. In our next game, we need to be strong from start to finish and be able to side out from the beginning.”
Rottman had 13 kills and 7 digs to lead the Dons. Crenshaw had 9 kills, Remi Pulice had 6 kills, and Michaela Ford had 9 kills. Schleich had 35 assists.
The Dons play Mater Dei on Thursday at 6.
