The Royals on Saturday at the Redondo Tournament.
An MVP-performance by Shane Hauschild led a near-perfect Redondo Tournament for San Marcos’ boys volleyball team as the Royals came home on Saturday with the tournament championship following a 25-21, 25-22 victory over Redondo in the final.
The Royals didn’t drop a set in seven matches on Friday and Saturday. After three wins in pool play on Friday, San Marcos finished with victories over Oak Park, Palos Verdes, South Pasadena and Redondo on Saturday.
“I think this is a great measuring stick for the work we put in in the offseason,” said San Marcos head coach Roger Kuntz, noting the quality opponents included in the tournament.
San Marcos, which has won nine matches without a loss to start the season, is ranked No. 3 in the pre-season Division 2 CIF Poll.
Kuntz said his team excelled in serve-receive and defense, and benefited from a handful of stand-out individual performances.
Hauschild was named the tournament MVP for averaging 4.8 kills per set throughout the event. Kuntz marveled at his star player’s ability to overcome opposing team’s efforts to quiet Hauschild.
“These blockers that he was facing… I mean he was facing triple blocks; he never came off the court in two days.”
Christian Widmer and Baker Johnson were named to the all-tournament team.
“Widmer was clearly the elite setter at the tournament. There were 32 teams at the tournament and none were better than (Christian),” Kuntz said.
Connor Everman stepped into the starting lineup at opposite and “played incredible,” and libero Sean Estabrooks “really showed his maturity,” according to Kuntz.
San Marcos topped Oak Park 25-19, 25-19 in the round of 16. The Royals advanced past Palos Verdes 25-16, 26-24 in the quarterfinals and South Pasadena in the semifinals 25-17, 25-20.
“We went through a bunch of good teams,” Kuntz said.
San Marcos (9-0) will travel to Valencia for a non-league match on Tuesday, followed by the Channel League opener at Buena on Thursday. The week will finish up at the all-day Dos Pueblos Invitational on Saturday.
