The Owls Sweep Dos Pueblos as Unofficial City Champs

The Owls brought their “A” game and took down Dos Pueblos, 25-17, 25-15, 25-20, on Tuesday night at Sovine Gym. The victory gave Laguna Blanca an unprecedented sweep of the three local Channel League schools this season. The only other team to accomplish that was Channel League-champion Ventura.

So, what did it mean to sweep the city schools? “It brings a promising future, honestly,” said Kelly Bickett, junior setter for the No. 1-ranked team in Division 6. "This is our last game before CIF, so this was our real game sense since three weeks ago when we played Cate. It was a great test. I actually loved this game; I had so much fun.”

The Owls’ tremendous ball control and defense were too much for Dos Pueblos to handle. They consistently dug attacks and kept rallies going until the Chargers made mistakes.

“That’s the best defense I’ve seen us play,” said Bickett. “Our communication was really good. Every one was calling the ball, covering. In practice, it’s been a struggle for us to actually cover and call the ball.”

Five Laguna players recorded double-digit digs, led by Sophia Fay '18 and Maddy Nicolson '17 with 26 apiece. Bickett added 14 digs, Caylin Zimmerman '18 added 13, and Kendall White '17 added 11.

“Our serving and passing were pretty good tonight and we were able to force them to do things they didn’t want to do while we maintained our game plan,” Laguna coach Jason Donnelly said. “We work pretty hard at treating every opponent, every practice, almost every point the same. That’s how we train in practice. When we get into those long rallies, our kids love them. Luckily for us, throughout the course of the year, we’ve won a lot of long rallies. Going into playoffs, our expectation is we don’t always put the ball away the first time or put the second ball away, but the more opportunities we give ourselves the better chance we have to score points.”

The Laguna defense often frustrates more physical teams. On the 24th point in the third set, the Owls dug three consecutive DP attacks and converted the third one into a kill by Laurel Kujan '18. Bickett followed with an ace serve to end the match.

“Laguna is a polished team,” DP coach Dillan Bennett said. “They got a lot of great ball control, a lot of great weapons, and our girls didn’t really have the energy tonight.”

Danielle LaGrange was the Chargers’ kill leader with five. The team was without senior Danica Minnich, who is recovering from a sprained ankle.

“There’s always nights like this,” Bennett said. “Fortunately enough for us, this wasn’t a Channel League game that decided whether or not we make playoffs. This game was on the schedule so both good teams could have a good match before the playoffs start. I wish we could have given Laguna a little bit more of a match. I didn’t think we played very well tonight, but that’s a good team and they should have no problems in the playoffs in Division 6.”

Zimmerman was Laguna’s kill leader with 19, while Kujan and Nicolson added eight apiece. Bickett handed out 39 assists.

Donnelly downplayed the “City Championship” theme of sweeping the three large public schools: Santa Barbara High School, San Marcos High School, and Dos Pueblos High School. For him and the Owls, it’s all about excelling in the CIF playoffs. They won the Southern Section 4AA title last year and reached the Division 4 State Finals.

“For us, they’re just three wins,” he said. “Fortunately, we played really well in all three of those games. We’re preparing for the playoffs. We’ve been preparing since August 15 and everybody who has competed against us has given us a chance to get better.”