SBART Luncheon: Girls Volleyball Concludes Regular Season, Flag Football Enters League Tournament

With many fall sports nearing the beginning of postseason play, local high school coaches provided team updates at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.

While the football and cross country seasons are in the midst of league play and weekend meets, girls flag football and girls volleyball will head into the CIF-SS playoffs following this week of action.

Channel League Flag Football Tournament

Perhaps the most important games of the week come on the high school girls flag football field as all three local Channel League squads will compete in the League Tournament for a spot in the CIF-SS playoffs.

All three teams will be hosting an opening-round matchup in a tournament where the top seed will earn an automatic bid into the postseason.

The first-round games kick off on Monday at 6:30 p.m. with Dos Pueblos hosting Buena, San Marcos playing host to Rio Mesa and Santa Barbara welcoming Oxnard to Peabody Stadium.

In the regular season, the three of the local squads came out on top over these respective opponents.

The Chargers earned the City Championship in the regular season by defeating both San Marcos and Santa Barbara en route to a 5-2 league record. The Royals also had a league mark of 5-2 while the Dons came in at 4-3.

Should Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Santa Barbara High advance, they will play in the semifinal round on Tuesday at Buena High. The championship is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. at Ventura College.

“We’re excited, we’ve got a lot of football this week and hopefully we’ll do Goleta proud,” Dos Pueblos coach Doug Caines said.

Following the Channel League tournament, the girls flag football divisions and first-round matchups will be released on the CIF-SS website on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Girls Volleyball Playoffs Looming

This week marks the end of regular season play for the local girls volleyball teams, and CIF-SS playoff pairings will be released on Saturday morning.

There will be plenty of local teams competing in postseason play, including the Channel League champion San Marcos Royals and the Tri-Valley League champion Bishop Diego Cardinals.

“I’m really proud of the effort that the girls have put in, top to bottom,” Royals coach Dwayne Hauschild said. “We started with 14 girls on the roster and it’s a lot to juggle but they’ve all done a great job filling the roles they’ve been asked.”

Meanwhile, Laguna Blanca (2nd in Frontier), Santa Barbara (T-2nd in Channel) and Dos Pueblos (T-3rd in Channel) are on their way to competing in the CIF-SS playoffs as well.

“It’s been really cool for this group and this team to see the success,” Dons coach Kristin Hempy said. “We started off slow and are kind of building at the right time.”

Most of the local teams wrap up the regular season on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday with several teams celebrating Senior Night in their regular season finales.

CIF-SS playoff divisions and first-round matchups will be released on the CIF-SS website on Saturday at 10 a.m.