SAN PERLITA — The Santa Maria Lady Cougars looked to be the class of District 32-2A after defeating the San Perlita Lady Trojans in a five-game match at the end of last month.
In the rematch Saturday morning, the Lady Trojans made a spot for themselves atop the district standings in convincing fashion, sweeping the Lady Cougars 25-14, 25-12, 25-19.
Both teams are 5-1 with two games to go in league play.
After nearly three weeks, San Perlita head coach Mari Suarez said her team had come a long way since dropping the first match to Santa Maria nearly three weeks ago, and it showed as an in sync Lady Trojan attack led the way.
“I told the girls in practice that we have a different team than when we played them the first time,” Suarez said. “They weren’t united like they are now. The chemistry is on the court now, the combinations are there and they know what everyone is going to do.
“They’re playing like a team and there’s no selfishness on the court. We’re at a different level of play now.”
The Lady Cougars looked a step slower throughout the match and never caught their footing as they struggled to set up any kind of attack or find momentum.
Santa Maria head coach Sofia Garcia chalked it up to being unprepared for the moment.
“San Perlita was just better than us today, bottom line,” Garcia said. “We couldn’t get anything going. I won’t make excuses, but I told the girls all week to focus. We just didn’t get off the bus to play.
“I don’t think their mental focus was there, but it’s OK. We’re still tied in first place with San Perlita.”
Much of that was thanks to the energy San Perlita’s Mia Maurer provided.
Maurer was a force at the net, throwing down nine kills, a few of which helped thwart Santa Maria runs when games got close.
“She is a phenomenal athlete. She can get up there to hit and get digs when you need it,” Suarez said of Maurer. “We’re going to miss her next year, but I’m really just proud of my entire team today.”
For most of the match, it was all San Perlita.
At one point in the first game, the Lady Trojans rattled off 10 straight points to put it out of reach.
In the second game, leading 12-9, the Trojans ended that game on a 12-3 spurt.
The Lady Cougars made the third game interesting and led 10-8 at one point, before squandering that lead away moments later.
San Perlita’s Maranda Theiss had six kills, a block and three assists and setter Justine Nyquist had more than 60 assists.