A matchup between the Channel League Champions and Tri-Valley League Champions lived up to its billing on Wednesday night at the Brick House.
A rare non-league girls’ volleyball showdown between Bishop Diego and San Marcos swung in the Royals’ favor in the decisive fifth set as San Marcos captured a 25-23, 20-25, 27-25, 23-25, 15-7 victory.
“That is a talented team with a ton of great coaching and a ton of great kids,” said San Marcos coach Dwayne Hauschild of Bishop Diego. “To win what is truly a city championship by playing the strongest team out there and getting that five-game victory is huge.”
Many of the players on both sides had shared the court before as teammates in club volleyball. In fact, during June 2022, Bishop Diego head coach Dillan Bennett led a Santa Barbara Volleyball Club 15U team to an AAU Girls’ Volleyball National Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. The team consisted of Bishop Diego’s top players Eliana Urzua and Nicole Schuetz as well as two of San Marcos’ top players Josie Gamberdella and Elena Thomas, among others.
The friendships and rivalries made for an intense contest that neither team wanted to lose.
“San Marcos is a great program, and any time we at Bishop get to play those public schools in big matches, the community always turns out and it’s always a great environment,” Bennett said. “We are grateful that they continue to schedule against us and give us the opportunity to compete. You can’t really draw up a better opportunity to prepare for the playoffs.”
Set one was tight throughout, but Gracie Stone made her presence felt with a spike off the block that gave San Marcos a 24-23 lead. The Royals took a 1-0 set lead when Stone and Cora Loomer combined for a block.
However, the Cardinals immediately responded in set two and jumped out to a 16-8 lead on a tap over the block by Vivi Klentner.
A long serving run by Alina Stapf capped off by a Charlotte Hastings kill cut the San Marcos deficit to 17-14, but that’s as close as the Royals would come as a spike from the back row by Urzua clinched set two for Bishop Diego, 25-20.
Urzua, who is committed to continue her volleyball career at UCLA, finished with a match-high 28 kills and also chipped in four aces, five digs, and two blocks.
Hastings led the way for San Marcos offensively with 23 kills. She stepped up to the moment with senior Elena Thomas out of the lineup due to sickness.
“They are a really great team. I think it was one of the most competitive teams all around that we played this year,” Hasting said. “On our side, we just focused on staying composed and having a lot of energy throughout.”
In set three, an ace serve by Hastings gave San Marcos a 19-11 lead, but a long serving run by Urzua that concluded with a kill by Nicole Schuetz cut the Bishop Diego deficit to 20-19.
From there, the two teams traded points until back-to-back kills by Hastings and Reese Paskin clinched the set for San Marcos, 27-25.
Bishop Diego led for most of set four until a a tough serve by Hastings resulted in an errant Bishop Diego pass that was cleaned up by San Marcos’ Jordan Schmoller, tying the score at 20-20.
However the Cardinals regained control and forced a fifth and final set when Wynter Thorne-Thomsen placed a perfect off-speed tap that found the floor.
Set five was all San Marcos. A Stone kill gave the Royals a 9-1 lead and they never looked back. Loomer notched the kill that clinched the fifth set and the match for San Marcos.
Both teams will now await the release of the CIF Southern Section playoff brackets, which are set to be released on Saturday.