San Marcos setter Christian Widmer decides to take a swing late in the third set that results in a kill.
San Marcos’ top-seeded boys volleyball team didn’t miss a beat on Saturday as the Royals swept visiting Long Beach Poly 25-15, 25-14, 25-18 in the quarterfinals of the CIF-ss Division 2 tournament.
The Royals have yet to lose a set in CIF, topping Arcadia, Oaks Christian, and now Poly.
“We knew they were real athletic and if you open up that door against a Poly team, all of a sudden you look at the score and you’re done. So we were not going to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Royals head coach Roger Kuntz.
The result moves San Marcos into Wednesday’s semifinals, where the Royals will host Esperanza in the Thunderhut. It will be a rematch of last year’s semifinals, when Esperanza swept the Royals before beating Santa Barbara in the title match for the Division 2 championship.
“We’re excited about that match. In fact, we’ve been wanting that match all year long,” Kuntz said.
Shane Hauschild led the Royals with 15 kills. Baker Johnson was in double figures as well with 11. Middle Cole Wenals was active at the net and totaled four blocks.
San Marcos was never really threatened in any of the three sets.
“Coming into this game I knew that they weren’t big, but I knew that they were very athletic,” said Royals setter Christian Widmer. “So we were hoping that our defense and our passing would pick up, and I’m glad that we had a crowd out here tonight because that really helped us. We really wanted to give them a good show.”
San Marcos’ one low point was seeing middle Taylor Mann go down with an ankle injury at 9-5 in the second set. Mann, who missed six weeks of the regular season with a fractured foot, sprained the other ankle and is questionable for the semifinal.
San Marcos, seeking its first CIF championship in boys volleyball since 1999, improves to 28-3 on the season.
