The San Marcos High girls’ volleyball team avenged a heartbreaking loss in the first round of league play with a 25-21, 25-15, 19-25, 25-22 victory over rival Santa Barbara on Tuesday night.
The Royals are beginning to find their stride after a rough start to Chanel League play that was marred by injuries and illness. San Marcos is currently in fifth place in the Channel League and will need to move up the standings to receive an automatic playoff berth.
“It’s not like we were getting crushed, every one of our big losses were in five games. That’s brutal, it was a swing here and a swing there,” said San Marcos coach Tina Brown. “It is exciting because I think we’re getting better and better right when we need to be, but we have three big games we have to win.”
Sophomore middle blocker Cora Loomer was dominant for San Marcos. She finished with 12 kills on 15 attempts and eleven blocks. Outside hitter Elena Thomas contributed a match-high 15 kills.
Santa Barbara was led by Nicole Schuetz, Emmy Werner and Serena Byrd all of whom finished with nine kills.
With the loss Dons fall to 7-3 in Channel League play, but remain in second place. San Marcos improved to 5-5 in Channel League play.