It may have lacked the intensity that’s usually associated with a postseason match, but Santa Barbara High’s boys volleyball team still managed to take care of business and sweep San Luis Obispo in the CIF Division 2 wild-card round at J.R. Richards Gym on Saturday afternoon.
The Dons rolled out to big leads in the first two sets and rallied from a 7-2 deficit in the third. The scores were 25-14, 25-15, 25-22.
Santa Barbara (14-9, Channel League No. 3) now moves into Tuesday’s first round and travels to Lancaster to play Golden League champion Eastside (17-2). San Luis Obispo, the No. 3 team from the Pac 7 League, finishes at 15-8.
The Dons’ outside-hitting combination of Tristan Fauntleroy and Hayden Millington proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle. Setter Cord Pereira continually fed the pin hitters and they delivered some big kills. Fauntleroy had a team-high 14 kills and Millington put away 13. Kyle Skinner added six kills and Will Pulice put down five in the middle.
“Tristan is Tristan, but Hayden Millington brings a lot more balance to our offense,” said Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson.
The match was Santa Barbara’s first in two weeks. And, at times, the team played flat.
Arneson said that has to change for the rest of the postseason.
“This was a good wakeup call for us,” he said. “It definitely was much needed. It’s almost a blessing in disguise we had a wild-card match going into a big playoff bracket, where we’re kind of the underdog for the most part.”
Arneson said former Dons stars Andy Abayan and Tyler Hansen came to practice to help the team prepare for the playoffs.
“We’ve had some good practices. The energy has been there, but tonight it was a little lackluster, a little hit-and-miss kind of thing,” said Arneson.
“We didn’t expect (playing in the wild-card round) to happen,” he added. “In a way, it was good for us, I guess. You have to look at the bright side. We got a game, unlike other teams. Hopefully, we can keep getting better and not look too far ahead.”
