Girls tennis and girls golf also kicking off fall campaigns
Bringing back nearly all of their players from last season, the Santa Ynez High School girls volleyball has gotten off to a strong start for their 2024 campaign.
On Wednesday, Aug. 28, the Lady Pirates won a non-league contest against visiting Ventura Buena of the CIF Southern Section, taking a three-game sweep by the scores of 25-14, 25-10, and 25-15.
The win raised SYHS’s record to 5-2, with all five of their victories coming in sweeps. The team’s only losses came during the Cardinal Classic Tournament as Bishop Diego High in Santa Barbara to Capistrano Valley Christian and Newbury Park, both Southern Section schools.
In the win over Buena, senior Callin Glover led the Pirates with seven kills, while sophomore Ivy Moyer and freshman Scarlet Ollenburger had five apiece.
Earlier in the month, Aug. 22 to be exact, SYHS beat visiting Nipomo 25-13, 25-9, 25-13. It was before that match thathead coach Amelia Brown expressed how much she looked forward to having a team with familiar faces.
“Last year was a rebuilding year for us,” Brown said of the 2023 team that finished 17-20 overall, but made it to the second round of the CIF Central Section Division 3 playoffs. “This year we lost only one player, and it’s been great.We’re really playing like a unit.”
In addition to Glover and Ollenburger, Brown is looking to players like juniors Natalie Bailey and Haley Spry to lead the team this year.
Brown also pointed out junior Emma Johnson as one of her top players. However, during the Nipomo match, Johnson suffered an unspecified leg injury when she landed wrong after a spike attempt. It’s still unclear how much time she’ll miss.
The Lady Pirates will compete in the Mountain League this year, along with Arroyo Grande, Mission Prep, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, and Templeton.
SYHS will be back in action Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Atascadero. Its next home match will be next Thursday, Sept. 12, against Righetti, and league play will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at SLO.
Girls tennis beats Templeton after hosting trio from NorCal
The Santa Ynez High girls tennis team has also gotten things rolling on their season. The Lady Pirates stand at 2-2 after a 9-0 win over Templeton on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
All the SYHS singles player won rather handily. Both No. 1 singles Keegan Withrow and No. 2 singles Haley Townes won by 6-2, 6-1 scores, while No. 3 Kate Mazza didn’t give up a game, winning 6-0, 6-0. Other singles win were by Natalie O’Shaughnessy (6-1, 6-0) at No. 4, Danielle Hyland (6-0, 6-1) at No. 5, and Skyla Oslin (6-4, 6-0) at No. 6.
In doubles play, the top four singles players for the Lady Pirates paired off, with Withrow/Townes winning 8-1, and Mazza/O’Shaughnessy taking their match by the same score. The third singles match saw Rylee Arellano and Violet Quinney win their match 8-6.
Before that, Santa Ynez hosted a trio of teams from Northern California on the campus courts. On Aug. 22, the Lady Pirates defeated a tough Oak Ridge team from El Dorado Hills 6-3. Townes, Mazza, Hyland, and Quinny took singles wins, while Withrow/Townes and Mazza/O’Shaugnessy got SYHS two wins out of the three doubles matches.
The Lady Pirates followed that up with defeats to Chico (7-2) on Friday, Aug. 23, and Rocklin (5-4) the next day.
Hyland got a singles win (6-1, 6-4) against Chico at No. 5, while Arellano and Quinney won 8-1 for SYHS’s only doubles point. Against Rocklin, Mazza, O’Shaughnessy, and Hyland got singles wins, while Mazza and Hyland got the Lady Pirates only doubles wins.
Head coach Jennifer Rasmussen admits that her squad is in a formidable league, the Mountain, along with Arroyo Grande, Lompoc, St. Joseph, and San Luis Obispo.
“There are some tough teams in our league when we reach that part of the schedule,” she said. “I think Arroyo Grande and SLO will continue to be great teams. We’ll keep working on getting our ratings up and prepare for CIF play in our division.”
Rasmussen said she’s looking at players like Withrow, Mazza, and O’Shaughnessy to be team leaders, and also had praise for Townes, who was slotted at No. 2 singles even though she’s a freshman.
Santa Ynez will take part in the California Tennis Classic in Clovis this weekend (Sept. 6-7) in Clovis, and return to the Santa Ynez courts next Tuesday, Sept. 10, against Clovis West.
Santa Ynez girls golf hosts Pirate Invitational
On Monday, Aug. 26, the Santa Ynez girls golf team hosted the 25th Annual Pirate Invitational at the Alisal River Course (par 72). The event had 68 participants representing 17 different high schools from both the Central and Southern CIF sections.
The tournament format was a two-person best ball tournament, the low score between the two players on each hole counting toward the team score.
“The first Pirate Invitational was held in 1999 and we are proud to have made this fun early-season 18-hole tournament such a long-standing tradition for our Central Coast high schools to participate in,” Santa Ynez head coach Sara Ovadia said.
Gigi Gunasayan and Maya London of Arroyo Grande earned first-place honors with a team score of 69. Cece Lewis and Emma Dodson, also of Arroyo Grande, had a 71, the same score as Sunny Wang and Alesia Barry of Oaks Christian, but the AG duo earned second place on the tiebreaker, which was the lower score on the back nine.
Nina Xu and Joanna Hong of Oak Park finished fourth at 72.
The girls golf team will next see action Wednesday, Sept. 4, with a dual match against San Marcos on the Alisal River Course.
