San Marcos High Girls’ Volleyball Sweeps Rival Dos Pueblos in Crosstown Matchup

After falling short in both matchups against rival Dos Pueblos last season, the San Marcos High girls’ volleyball team was ready for the crosstown showdown on Tuesday night.

Junior outside hitter Charlotte Hasting led the way for San Marcos with 12 kills and 11 digs as the Royals kept their foot on the pedal on their way to a 25-10, 25-22, 25-11 sweep.

“Dos Pueblos is always really prepared, number one, and number two, they go for everything. They are such a scrappy team,” said San Marcos coach Dwayne Hauschild. “Last year, we witnessed that and we weren’t there yet. We had a lot of work to do, and the girls really put in the work this year to be better on defense, to be more aggressive, and to be more confident.”

In addition to tenacious defense, San Marcos dominated from the service line. Alina Stapf finished with seven aces, and the Royals compiled 13 aces as a team, which kept the Dos Pueblos offense off balance. 

“Our passing wasn’t our best, which then made it hard for us to run any sort of offense,” said Dos Pueblos coach Megan O’Carroll. “We just weren’t scoring a ton of points, and it’s hard to win a match when you don’t score points.”

In set one, Dos Pueblos cut its deficit to 12-9 on a San Marcos serving error. However, the Royals responded with a 6-0 run capped off by a kill from junior Grace Stone. San Marcos clinched the set on an ace serve by Stapf.

The Chargers kept it close in set two, but with the score tied at 21 apiece, Cora Loomer delivered an ace serve, sparking a 4-1 San Marcos run to close out the set. A stone kill clinched the set for the Royals. 

An Elena Thomas kill on a spike down the line increased the San Marcos lead to 15-8 in set three. Jayden Jones brought the Chargers to within 16-9 with a spike through the block, but that’s as close as Dos Pueblos would come.

The Royals ripped off three straight points capped off by a Thomas kill and took the set 25-11 after another ace serve by Stapf. 

Thomas posted a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. San Marcos setter Josie Gamberdella did an excellent job spreading the ball around to her hitters and finished with 13 digs.

Halle Rillie was a bright spot for Dos Pueblos with a team-high five kills from the setter position. 

With the victory, San Marcos improves to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in Channel league play. Dos Pueblos drops to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in Channel League play.