The regular season has come to a close and the CIF-SS boy’s
volleyball playoffs begin in earnest on Tuesday, April 30 for several local
teams.
For the first time the Division 1 playoffs have been cut down from 32 to 16 teams and for Channel League champion Santa Barbara High (19-6), a first round matchup with Tesoro (21-5), the second-place team out of the mighty South Coast League, is a stiff test that will require a determined effort to pass.
“I guess that’s Division 1,” said Santa Barbara High coach
Chad Arneson with a chuckle. “Unfortunately we haven’t seen Tesoro play this
year, but we know they’re 21-5 overall and 7-1 in league.”
Tesoro split two matchups with South Coast League champion
San Clemente. The Dons matched up with San Clemente at the best of the west
tournament and lost in straight sets although they were missing some key
players in that match.
“It’s nice that we have a home game and we hope that will be
an advantage for us if we can get a good student body crowd,” Arneson said. “We
have to kind of remind ourselves of what we did in the TOC and hope to
duplicate that kind of run and continue our strong play of late.”
In Division 2, Channel League runner up San Marcos (17-6) will
matchup with Pacific View League runner up Channel Islands (20-11). Third-place
Dos Pueblos (13-12) is also in Division 2 and will travel to Foothill League
champion West Ranch.
Laguna Blanca (14-2), the second place team out of the
Tri-Valley League will travel to Coastal League champion Vistamar of El
Segundo. Despite winning the Citrus Coast League, Carpinteria (9-5) will host
powerhouse Campbell Hall (15-3), which tied for second in the Gold Coast
League, but was given the third seed out of the league.
Second round matches for Division 2-6 will be held on
Thursday May 2. In Division 1 the Quarter final matches will be Saturday, May
4.