San Marcos couldn’t carry the momentum over from its big win over Dos Pueblos and lost to Ventura in four sets on Thursday night at the Cougars’ gym. It was the first loss for the Royals.
Ventura, which last week knocked off Santa Barbara, beat the Royals 28-26, 25-22, 30-28, 25-15.
“Ventura is very good team,” San Marcos coach Erica Downing said. “They are scrappy and defend very well. They did a great job of defending Kristen Berlo. We struggled passing, which threw our offense off. We couldn’t get the ball to the middle and it forced our outside hitters to get kills versus two blockers every time.”
Katy Henchy paced the Cougars with 20 kills and Delaney Shaw added 10 kills and four blocks. Lindsey Tice was a defensive force at the net with a six blocks.
For San Marcos, sophomore Emily Allen led the team with 16 kills and Berlo had 11 kills. Anika Wilson picked up 27 digs.
The Royals were hurt by 11 service errors.
Downing praised the play of Charlotte Garratt. “She had some key blocks and brought some great energy in for us,” the coach said.
San Marcos is 1-1 in league and 5-1 overall; Ventura is 2-1 and 9-6.
