San Marcos’ Kamille Williams takes a swing. (John Dvorak/Presidio Sports Photos)
San Marcos’ girls volleyball team started strong and held on in its Division 1A playoff opener on Tuesday, sweeping Agoura, 25-13, 25-18, 25-17 at the Thunderhut
The first set promised big gains for the Royals with Jenna MacFarlane making her home at the service line with a 7-0 run to start the game. The slow start for Agoura set the tone for the entire game.
“It is hard at any level to take your own momentum, especially in high school, it’s hard to teach. You have to figure out how to create your own momentum,” said San Marcos coach Erica Downing.
From the start, Agoura was giving points away with errors defensively and at the net. The Royals took the set comfortably, with Chloe Allen recording 6 of her 14 kills.
Gabi Peoples blocks a tipped ball against Agoura.
“We had too many runs of break downs to be able to overcome them,” said Agoura coach Brock Redmond.
Agoura kept pace with the Royals in the second set by cutting down its errors. But Kamille Williams was a force at the net, recording all three of her blocks in the match before San Marcos reached 15 points.
Agoura took a 14-12 lead, and the set remained close until San Marcos broke a 17-17 tie with an 8-1 run to win it.
“It was a typical first round of CIF: a little bit slow and not as much energy,” said the UCSB-bound Allen. “In the first game, we did a little bit better at bringing the energy and it kind of went down hill from there.”
The final set proved similar to the second. It was slow with the score going back and forth. Williams spurred a lead after a kill to the heart of the Charger defense. The set closed with two huge kills from Jenna MacFarlane.
“Their outside (Allen) does a pretty darn good job. We tried to serve to her and hit to her to get her out of rhythm,” said Redmond. “That was our game plan, trying to take her out of system, get the setter flustered and moving around. Consistently we didn’t execute well enough to be able to take them.”
“A lot of teams serve me to try and get me out of swing. Personally I think it’s a lot easier and gets me more involved in the whole play,” said Allen.
In addition to her 14 kills, Allen tallied 12 digs. MacFarlane also had 12 digs and Williams finished with 7 kills and 3 blocks.
The Royals advance to Thursday’s second round against Yucaipa.
