Today’s the big day for UCSB men’s water polo.
The team will begin its home season with matches against UC San Diego at noon and UCLA at 6 p.m.
Because of COVID-19 mitigation efforts at UCSB, there will be no public sale of tickets. Spectators will be limited to the players’ families and friends. Live stats will be available, but the games won’t be live-streamed.
On Thursday, UCSB enjoyed victories at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu. The Gauchos defeated Westcliff 20-6 and Pepperdine 12-9.
CARPINTERIA HAS A GREAT NIGHT
Stand back! There’s no stopping the Warriors or their serves.
That’s what the Hueneme volleyball team learned Thursday night when Carpinteria High School’s freshman/sophomore, junior varsity and varsity players went undefeated in all sets at the Vikings gym.
The varsity scores tell the story: 25-15, 25-12, 25-16.
“The Vikings could not stop the Carpinteria Warrior serves,” Warrior Head Coach Bret Shellabarger told the News-Press in an email.
Setter Marlene Sanchez, a senior, was player of the game, leading with 7 aces and 7 kills along with outside hitter Alex Zapata right behind her with 7 aces and 5 kills, Shellabarger said.
Next up, the Warriors go to Ventura County Tuesday to take on Fillmore High School.
SANTA YNEZ BOYS WATER POLO WINS BIG
No wonder they’re called Pirates.
After all, the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School boys water polo team took to the “sea” and sank their competition Thursday, with a 15-9 win over San Luis Obispo.
Santa Ynez got off to a great start in the first quarter with 6 goals, then maintained its lead with 2 goals in the second quarter,2 goals in the third and 5 in the fourth. By contrast, SLO had 1 goal in the first quarter, 2 in the second, 4 in the third and 2 in the fourth.
Junior Landon Lassahn led the Pirates with 7 goals, 3 steals and 2 earned exclusions.
“Co-captain Addison Hawkins had a great day with 4 goals and 3 steals,” Head Coach Jake Kalkowski told the News-Press in an email.
Cristian Sotelo had 2 goals. Joel Pakulski and Mason Murphy had 1 each. The Pirates are now 7-8 for the season.
At 3:30 p.m. Monday, the Pirates will host Santa Barbara.
LAGUNA BLANCA LOSES
Laguna Blanca lost its volleyball match 3-2 Thursday against St. Bonaventure.
The scores for the sets were 25-19, 25-21, 14-25, 19-25, 7-15.
Laguna Blanca’s Lola Hall had 20 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks.
Sarah Woodhouse had 10 kills.
Jacqueline Richardson had 19 digs and 4 aces.
Frances Carlson had 23 digs.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the effort our girls put forth tonight. It was our best match of the year and while it stings a little bit to not come out on the winning side, there is much to build on going forward,” Coach Jason Donnelly said in an email to the News-Press.
“We have a young team that gained valuable experience in a highly intense high school volleyball match. We battled until the final ball hit the floor and let everything out there tonight.”
“Lola Hall had a breakout match offensively taking swings from all over the front row and executing at a really high level,” Donnelly said. “These girls come to the gym every day ready to work, and we most definitely got better tonight.”
Laguna Blanca travels to Coast Union today to play matches against Coast Union and Coastal Christian.
email: dmason@newspress.com
