The Chula Vista High School boys volleyball team left little doubt as to the identity of the best team on the court in Saturday’s San Diego Section Division III quarterfinal-round playoff game against the visiting San Diego Cavers. The second-seeded Spartans took command from the start and took care of business in dealing the 10th-seeded Cavers a loss in straight sets.
Chula Vista (20-4) advances to Wednesday’s division semifinals against third-seeded Christian (20-4) on the strength of its 25-20, 25-6, 25-17 quarterfinal sweep.
“We came in focused knowing it was Senior Night and knowing we would be playing for the first CIF banner in school history,” Spartan senior Greg Fernandez said. “It turned out great. It shows us we have to push ourselves every single game.”
After winning a tight opening game, the hosts took charge of the match with their decisive win in the second game.
“After winning the second set, we got more confident and more hyped to come out in the third set,” Fernandez said.
Demitrious Gibbs led Chula Vista with 12 kills while Andrew Raffe tallied 11 kills and Fernandez racked up nine kills.
Spartan coach Joey Espinoza said his team, this year’s Metro-Pacific League co-champions, was determined to find a way to win as long is it managed, in his words, “to get the ball over the net.”
“I knew if we could limit their middle that our outside hitters would have an open net to put the ball away,” Espinoza said. “We came out a little slow. We had a week off but we talked about it between sets and our energy got better. We were able to put them away.”
The Cavers, who upset seventh-seeded San Diego Academy in the opening round, end their season 11-13.
Christian enters Wednesday’s semifinal match-up at 7 p.m. at CVHS after eliminating sixth-seeded West Hills in four games, also in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The Spartans defeated West Hills, this year’s Grossmont Valley League champions, in tournament play earlier this season 24-26, 25-9, 15-6.
Christian defeated West Hills 25-18, 25-16, 24-26, 25-21 in the quarterfinals. Zac Downey led the Pattriots with 22 kills while teammate Travis Ballard had 10 kills.
Chula Vista (Division III) and Castle Park (Division IV) are the only two Metro Conference teams remaining in the playoffs. Top-seeded Castle Park (12-7) hosts fourth-seeded Del Lago Academy (20-11) Wednesday at 6 p.m.
In the Open Divison quarterfinals on Saturday, third-seeded Mt. Carmel eliminated Metro-Mesa League champion Otay Ranch 3-2 in games while second-seeded La Jolla downed Metro-Mesa League runner-up Eastlake 3-1.
Otay Ranch won the first game 25-23 in the hotly contested playoff match-up before the visiting Sundevils captured the second game by a score of 26-24. The sixth-seeded Mustangs claimed the third game 25-23 to go ahead 2-1. However, the visitors secured wins in the final two games – 25-23, 15-8 – to advance to meet La Jolla in Wednesday’s division semifinals.
Efrain Sharkey had 16 kills, Noel Kim had 15 kills and Eddie Rosenfeld had 13 kills to lead Otay Ranch. Rosenfeld also had four blocks while Noah Alegrado had 13 digs, Josh Kristsanajootha and Derek Gascon each had 12 digs and Justin Garrido had 11 digs on defense. Gascon had 44 assists on offense.
San Diego Section Playoff Scoreboard
Open Division
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 16
(3) Mt. Carmel defeated(6) Otay Ranch 3-2, advances to semifinals
(2) La Jolla defeated (7) Eastlake 3-1, advances to semifinals
Division II
First round
Tuesday, May 12
(9) Montgomery defeated (8) Patrick Henry 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
(10) Santa Fe Christian defeated (7) Olympian 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
Quarterfinals
Friday, May 15
(1) El Camino defeated (9) Montgomery 3-0, advances to semifinals
(5) Granite HIlls defeated (4) Hilltop, advances to semifinals
(6) Valley Center defeated (3) Bonita Vista 3-2, advances to semifinals
(2) Valhalla defeated (10) Santa Fe Christian 3-0, advances to semifinals
Division III
First round
Wednesday, May 13
(8) San Dieguito Academy defeated (9) Sweetwater 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
(5) Escondido Charter defeated (12) Mater Dei Catholic 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 16
(2) Chula Vista defeated (10) San Diego 3-0, advances to semifinals
Division IV
First round
Wednesday, May 13
(5) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter defeated (12) Chula Vista High Tech 3-1, advances to quarterfinals
Quarterfinals
Fridday, May 15
(1) Castle Park defeated (9) El Capitan 3-1, advances to semifinals
Saturday, May 16
(4) Del Lago Academy defeated (5) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter 3-0, advances to semifinals
