The triumphant Santa Barbara High girls volleyball team gathered together once again Monday, to be honored for a season that started with getting to know a new coach and ended with the CIF-SS Division 6 championship.
“I’m very proud of them for an amazing season,” first-year coach Kristin Hempy told the gathering of the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe, as the team members posed for photos.
“I’m excited to have been able to coach them, to see how much they improved and really came together as a unit. And like I said before, I think that’s what brought us through to the championship. I’m real proud of them all. Thank you for having us.”
That process of adjusting and coming together as a team was a story that unfolded this season for the Dons, who finished 19-5.
A key match was a five-set victory over Division 4 power Dos Pueblos. By mid-season, Hempy has said, the team unity really began to gel. By the Nov. 6 CIF final the unity was very apparent in a sweep of El Rancho.
“I’m very proud of these ladies,” Hempy said. “We’re just honored to be here at the Round Table.”
Monday’s edition of the Round Table toasted late-season successes in the fall and looked ahead to the gathering winter sports competitions.
SBCC FOOTBALL
The Vaqueros put together a compete game on Saturday in a 52-7 rout of Santa Monica at La Playa Stadium, and close out the season Friday at home against Orange Coast.
And Friday’s honorary captain will be a longtime SBCC presence: Dave Loveton, who served as the school’s sports information specialist for 16 years before passing away on April 28 following a long battle with cancer.
“If you’re free at 5 o’clock on Friday, we’re there, and the game will be in honor of Dave,” assistant coach and defensive coordinator Don Willis told the SBART gathering.
Loveton was also a longtime fixture at the Round Table, and before taking the position with SBCC in 2005 worked many years as a local sports journalist.
Willis brought brought “two our leading players”: defensive back Berry Buxton III, a freshman from San Diego, and wide receiver Chase Wells from La Habra.
Wells caught two touchdown passes against Santa Monica, Willis noted.
“It really was a good team win,” Don Willis said.
The Vaqueros are now 6-3, and have “an outside chance” for a bowl bid, Willis said. The game with Orange Coast is a makeup game.
“We’ll see what happens, but we have to take care of this Friday first against a pretty good team coming up from Orange Coast,” he said. “So it’s back to the drawing board. We’re a day sort this week, so it’s going to be busy for us.
CATE FOOTBALL
Also on Friday night, the Rams will take on Grace Brethren at Carpinteria High School for the CIF-SS Division 1 8-man football title. Cate, 10-1, made the final by beating Sage Hill 21-16 in Newport Beach.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Rams coach Ben Soto said. He noted that Grace Brethren won the 2018 state championship in 11-man Division 2AA before going to 8-man play.
“They now how to win, they know how to play football,” Soto said. “I know they’re going to be ready, but I know that we are going to be ready also. We’re looking forward to it.”
He thanked Carpinteria High School — his alma mater — for agreeing to host the title game.
“We’re excited about playing,” Soto said. “We’re excited about getting a shot at something we’ve never done before.”
In addition to Athlete of the Week Mason Oetgen, Soto introduced senior captain Matthew Holmes.
DOS PUEBLOS BOYS BASKETBALL
It’s time for the games to begin.
“We’ve been having some really good practices, tough practices, and we’re really looking forward to playing somebody other than ourselves obviously,” DP assistant coach John Slavin said.
The team was set to remedy that in a game with Buena Monday night, and will host Newberry Park on Saturday.
Slavin brought “a couple of our juniors who probably will be starting for us,” he said, referring to Grant Hughes and Joe Talarico. “We’ll be relying heavily upon them this year.” And both so very well in the classroom: Hughes carries a 4.26 GPA and Talarico 4.0
Hughes, a lefty, “plays very, very physical,” Slavin said. “… He’s got a lot of finesse also, and he can make a perimeter shot.” At 6-3, “he’s probably going to have to guard the other team’s tallest player. We’re kind of vertically challenged this year,” which will mean an emphasis on speed.
Talarico “is a pure shooter, with perfect form on his shot. Competes on both ends of the court,” Slavin said. “He’s a terrific free throw shooter, I mean like 85-90 percent. We’re thrilled to have him back and representing Charger basketball. … he makes everyone around him better.”
SANTA BARBARA CROSS COUNTRY
Santa Barbara assistant coach Moki Nacario brought two runners who helped the boys team finish in fifth place at the CIF-SS Division 2 Prelims on Friday at Mt. San Antonio College, earning a spot in this weekend’s finals.
Oliver Levine finished 11th in a time of 16:30, and senior captain Xan Tassos 23rd in 16:57.
WESTMONT SPORTS
“Not a single coach was able to make it today because we are having one heck of a week up in the hills of Montecito,” Westmont sports information assistant Jacob Norling told the gathering.
That includes the Warrior women’s soccer team hosting the GSAC tournament last week — which they won with two thrilling shootout finales — and turning around to host the opening round of the NAIA national tournament this week, on Thursday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the reigning NAIA national champion women’s basketball team, now 4-0, haven’t lost to a NAIA team in nearly two years, Norling pointed out.
The Warrior women will host The Master’s on Saturday, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Murchison Gym. The Warrior men, now 6-0, then will complete the double-header, hosting The Master’s at 7:30 p.m.
Also on Saturday, “our women’s volleyball volleyball team will be up in Oregon playing Oregon Tech for a trip to the NAIA finals site in Sioux City,” Norling said.
“Exciting post-season time for Westmont, and Saturday will be a big day.”
SANTA BARBARA BOYS BASKETBALL
Coach Corey Adam brought two seniors he expects to help guide a “relatively inexperienced group” the team returns this year.
“These are guys that I expect to be leaders,” Adam said, of Tucker Dilbeck and Andre Battle. Both maintain a 4-plus GPA, he added. And both players received “multiple votes” among teammates for the hardest-working teammate and best defender.
Dilbeck “played some minutes wity us last year” and struggled combining baseball and basketball in last year’s compressed seasons, Adam said. “One of his strengths is communications” and vocal leadership, the coach added.
Battle is a “little bit more experienced than Tucker,” Adam said. Battle is also the school’s scholar-athlete of the year.
“We return a relatively inexperienced group,” Adam said. But they are also “a very selfless group.”
The Dons open against Buena Tuesday night.
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