Santa Barbara Holds on to Defeat San Marcos in Five-Set Thriller

A spirited comeback by the San Marcos High girls’ volleyball team fell short as rival Santa Barbara finished strong to capture a 25-13, 25-15, 17-25, 21-25, 15-7 victory on Thursday night at J.R. Richards Gymnasium.

The Dons were cruising in the opening two sets as primary attackers Emmy Werner, Nicole Schuetz, and Augustine Wooten feasted on light resistance at the net, but San Marcos came alive and played inspired volleyball beginning in set three, setting the stage for a thrilling finish.

“These games are always exciting and high energy,” said Santa Barbara coach Kristin Hempy. “I’ve got to give it to San Marcos, they really turned it around between the second and third sets. They picked up their offense, picked up their defense, and really gave us a well-fought battle.”

The young San Marcos team seemed to come of age in that third set. A kill followed by a solo block by Kaylin Cooney set the tone and gave the Royals a 9-6 lead in set three. Three consecutive ace serves by Cooney extended the San Marcos lead to 18-9.

A kill by Reese Paskin extended the San Marcos lead to 23-13. Another kill by Cooney clinched the third set for San Marcos, 25-17, and forced a fourth set.

“When 80-percent of your team is so fresh and has never played a varsity match in here, not knowing what to do showed,” said San Marcos coach Dwayne Hauschild. “We were a little messy in those first two games and Santa Barbara had the swagger.”

Santa Barbara jumped out to a 7-4 lead in set four when Lola Heckeman and Kennan Engebretson combined for a block. The Royals responded with a huge run to take control of the set. Charlotte Hasting sent a spike off the Santa Barbara block and out of bounds to give San Marcos an 11-9 lead and Cooney followed with a tap over the block extending the Royals’ lead to 12-9.

The San Marcos lead ballooned to 22-13 before Santa Barbara made an 8-2 run capped off by a San Marcos double contact violation that cut the deficit to 24-21. Paskin clinched the fourth set for San Marcos and forced a fifth and final set with a spike through the Santa Barbara block.

The Dons were all business in set five and took a 6-4 lead on a kill by Werner. Schuetz followed with an ace serve before another Werner kill put the Dons up 8-4.

“I knew whoever was going to come out at the beginning of the fifth set was going to take the momentum so I told them we have to dig deep and we have to come out strong,” Hempy said. “Our serve receive was struggling a little bit in the third and fourth sets so I told them to focus on the first pass, we’ll get our offense in rhythm and we got to make sure our energy is high.”

An ace serve by Tessa de Albergaria put the Dons on the brink of victory at 14-7 and Schuetz followed with a block that clinched the match.

Santa Barbara remains unbeaten in Channel League play at 3-0. San Marcos dropped to 1-2.