Shane Hauschild pounded 17 kills in a San Marcos sweep over Dos Pueblos
It was Senior Night for the top-ranked San Marcos boys volleyball team, All-CIF player Shane Hauschild was back in the lineup and the Royals were playing against the team that handed them their only loss this season.
Needless to say, the Royals were pumped up to play Dos Pueblos again.
Hauschild’s heavy hitting got San Marcos off to a fast start, and the Royals never let up in rolling to a 25-18, 25-15, 25-18 sweep before a near capacity crowd at the Thunderhut.
With the victory, San Marcos takes over sole possession of first place in the Channel League with a 5-1 record. The No. 1 team in CIF Division 2 is 20-1 overall. Dos Pueblos falls to 3-2 in league and 9-7 on the season.
Hauschild missed the first meeting against DP because he was on an overseas trip with his club water polo team. The Chargers won the match in five sets.
He definitely made an impact in the rematch. Setter Christian Widmer went to Hauschild early and often, and the Royals stormed out to an 8-0 lead in the first set.
“Shane wanted a lot of the load and we gave it to him. They can’t stop him,” San Marcos coach Roger Kuntz said.
Widmer then mixed things up, feeding Baker Johnson and Nick Rockwell on the outside and Cole Wenal and Jake Castanha in the middle. Dos Pueblos’ back row valiantly kept several plays alive with tremendous digging, but it eventually succumbed to the pressure.
“We worked so hard after the first loss to them,” Widmer said. “That really hurt, so we knew we’d get them back at our place. Last home game of Channel League, we had to come out with some fire and energy, and I’m really proud of my guys. It was a lot of fun.”
Widmer said the mood of the team on Tuesday was “take care of business and leave nothing on the floor. I think that was our mindset: play with no regrets.”
Hauschild paced the San Marcos attack with 17 kills, Baker added nine kills and middles Wenal and Castanha had four and three, respectively.
“Jake has really stepped up since Taylor Mann’s injury,” said Widmer. “He’s really performing. Cole, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Kuntz said the match showed just how potent the Royals are with a full arsenal.
“I think it highlighted when we got our whole team together, we’re pretty hard to stop,” he said. “I think what I was impressed with was we were so efficient at what we did out there tonight.”
Said first-year DP coach Ehren Hug: “San Marcos competed from the start. We got off a little bit slow, but I’m pleased how we fought back. We cut it to 15-10 in the first game, and there was a little bit of daylight there. They just got to keep believing that you can fight every point off, get the ball back and play some good defense.
“I’m very pleased with my team’s back row defense,” he added. “We made some amazing digs, amazing hustle plays. Niko (Plesons) and Jeffrey (Araki) and (Eli) Wopat are flying all over the place. It was fun to watch.”
Plesons was the Chargers’ dig leader with 21. Nate Holmes led the DP attack with 13 kills, while Kurtis Randmaa had seven blocks.
“That’s a well-oiled machine over there,” Hug said of San Marcos. “When they get going, they get going. What we wanted to do was put a couple of speed bumps out there and try our best. That’s all I can ask for from my team.”
