Eli Wopat of Dos Pueblos hits between Santa Barbara blockers JM Cage (10) and Kyle Skinner. The Dons won the match in three sets. (Presidio Sports photos)
One of the strengths of Santa Barbara High’s boys volleyball is its depth. That depth played a big part in a sweep over Dos Pueblos on Thursday night.
Blake Kelley put away nine kills and hit .800 off the bench and back-up middle JM Cage added five kills and three blocks, helping the Dons to 26-24, 25-21, 27-25 Channel League victory at J.R. Richards Gym.
“Obviously, winning in three straight is nice,” Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson said. “The way we did it showed how much depth we have and how many good athletes we have on our squad. I knew coming in we had a good team. We have a lot of weapons.”
Hayden Millington was the main weapon for Santa Barbara (6-4, 2-0)with 16 kills. But it was the performances from players like Kelley and Cage that provided a spark.
Cage combined with Jasper Rhodes to block a DP attack and force the Chargers into a ball-handling error for the final point in an error-filled first set.
In the second set, Kelley blasted a beautiful back set from Cord Pereira for a 23-19 Dons lead. After DP’s Eli Wopat stuffed Millington, Cage got a side out. Wopat sided out for the Chargers before Pereira went back to Kelley to finish the set
Arneson expressed his appreciation for two-sport athletes like Kelley, who plays football, and Cage, also a basketball player for the Dons.
“I want to shout out to anyone out there I will take any two-sport athlete over one specific sport athlete,” Arneson said. “That’s kind of the way I feel, no offense to my seniors that have played volleyball their whole life. It’s nice to have that luxury to share players and have them grow as individuals with different teammates and different sports. That’s really important in today’s culture.”
Wopat also is a two-sport athlete for Dos Pueblos. He carried the Charger attack with 12 kills.
“He’s a weapon,” said Arneson.
“He’s our guy,” DP coach Ehren Hug said of the 6-5 junior lefty who also plays basketball. “He’s definitely the most competitive and takes it super serious … wants to win, wants the ball all the time. As a coach, you always want to have a gun; you always want a guy who wants the ball, that wants the moment.”
Hayden Millington starts the Santa Barbara attack with a pass.
Wopat is a six-rotation player for DP. “He’s doing it all this year,” Hug said. “He’s doing a great job passing, playing defense, serving, attacking. He hit a few in there.”
After DP fought off four match points, Wopat ripped a spike the Dons were unable to return that tied the third set score at 25-25.
A Charger net violation gave Santa Barbara 26-25 lead. A terrific set from Pereira put Kyle Skinner in a one-on-one situation and Skinner put it away for the winning point.
Mistakes proved to be costly for DP
“Our unforced errors definitely shot us in the foot more than a few times,” Hug said. “We just couldn’t string together more than 4-5 points together. I felt like we couldn’t grab any flow in this match.
“The boys played hard, but we were about a half-second too slow in our reaction in the back row,” he added. “We were caught fishing in the net a few times. It’s frustrating. It was a decent effort but there was little lack of focus a few times.”
Elliot Brainerd added six kills and Connor Sullivan had four for DP (2-3, 1-0).
