Carly Yarnell ?(12) awaits the serve return during the first set against Long Beach Millikan. (James Crosby photos)
Playing in the first CIF playoff match of their careers, it wasn’t surprising the San Marcos girls volleyball team got off to a slow start in Tuesday’s first-round Division 1-AA match on Tuesday night.
The Royals trailed throughout the first set against visiting Long Beach Millikan, but they caught fire at the end and pulled out a 25-23 victory. With a vocal student section behind him, they found their groove and took control from that point on and won the next two sets, 25-12, 25-21, to advance to Thursday’s second round against second-seeded Marymount.
“We didn’t start great, but we kind of evened out and got better throughout the game,” San Marcos coach Erica Downing said.
Emily Allen and Anika Wilson started digging practically everything the Rams hit and middles Carly Yarnell and Kristen Berlo combined for 23 kills to lead the Royals (20-11) to their first playoff win in several years.
Allen picked up a match-high 19 digs and supplied 14 kills from the outside.
“She’s our best all-around player,” Downing said of the sophomore. “She hits, she serves great, she can play defense, she’s a good passer; she’s one of the core kids you need to have on the court all the time. Between her and Anika passing all the time and playing defense, it’s pretty good.”
Wilson, the team’s libero, dug 11 balls and served three aces.
Anika Wilson serves during the second set against Milikan. Wilson started the Royals on an 8-0 run.
At the net, Berlo put down 13 kills and hit a sizzling .590, while Yarnell recorded 10 kills with a .410 hitting percentage.
San Marcos was up against a Millikan team that had two big hitters in 6-5 Sherridan Atkinson and 6-1 Kelly O’Brien. They helped the Rams build a 14-8 lead in the first set. But the Royals were not intimidated and used the tough serving of Yarnell, good passing and solid back-row defense to battle back.
They caught Millikan at 20-20 and took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Berlo in the middle. They won the set when the Rams couldn’t get the ball over the net on a scramble play.
San Marcos carried the momentum into the second set as Wilson served up a pair of aces during an 8-0 run to start the set.
Setter Andie O’Donnell did a nice job getting everyone involved in the attack for San Marcos. Berlo, Yarnell, Emily Allen, Chloe Allen, Katie Kim, Anastasia Kunz and Charlotte Garratt all contributed kills in the set.
“I was trying to spread out the hitters and the blockers,” O’Donnell said
A block by Berlo on Atkinson gave San Marcos a 16-10 lead in the third set. The advantage went up to 21-15 after a back-row kill by Kunz, an ace by Emily Allen and a kill in transition by Chloe Allen after a dig by Wilson.
Charlotte Garratt, left, and Kristen Berlo go up for a block in Game 2. Garratt got the block that put the royals up 20-12.
