The effort was there but last weekend’s San Diego Section boys volleyball championship match-ups for both Castle Park and Bonita Vista high schools proved to be a matter of inches as the Trojans and Barons recorded runner-up finishes.
Top-seeded Castle Park dropped a three-game contest against second-seeded San Dieguito Academy 27-25, 30-28, 25-20 in last Friday’s Division III final.
Bonita Vista, seeded eighth, saw its season end with a loss in five games in last Saturday’s Division II final to third-seeded El Camino 25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 25-21, 8-15.
The games were included in the package of five CIF divisional championship contests played at Montgomery High School to showcase the school’s new state-of-the-art gym.
Though attendance was generally on the lean side, spectator enthusiasm was definitely high.
Castle Park fans cheered on their team throughout the Trojans’ match-up against the Mustangs. It was hard to determine by the amount of school spirit and outpouring of love that Castle Park finished runner-up.
Students made a tunnel on the court after the game. Each Trojan was greeted with cheers as he emerged from the end.
The championship game experience was clearly good to the last drop.
Castle Park entered last Friday’s Division III championship game after winning last year’s Division IV title — the first in school history. Conversely, San Dieguito Academy won the Division IV championship in 2014.
It was a tribute to the Trojans for earning the top-seeded position in the move up to the more competitive Division III level.
Certainly, the Trojans can hold their heads high after reaching the final in two separate divisions in each of the past two seasons.
“We had a promising team,” co-captain Abraham Rodriguez explained. “We had a lot of returners. We picked up from where we left off last year. We were patient.
“We played a lot of hard teams that picked up our momentum from last year. That picked up our morale. We had a lot of team pride when we were seeded No. 1.”
Though Castle Park (12-6) fell in three games, the matches were hotly contested. San Dieguito Academy (20-12) won the first game 27-25 before going on to claim the second game 30-28 in a marathon back-and-forth hitting contest.
The Mustangs, who made a huge leap to win this year’s division title after finishing last season 3-17, closed out the night with a 25-20 victory in the third game to crown themselves 2016 CIF champions.
“We were right there,” CPHS head coach Aaron Partch said.
“It’s great being one of only two teams still in the playoffs,” Rodriguez said. “It was awesome. We slacked off in that last game but we still had fun.”
No one can dispute that Castle Park, which finished second in this year’s Metro-Pacific League standings, didn’t represent itself well on the CIF stage.
In the Game 2 loss, the Trojans held five late leads — 24-23, 25-24, 26-25, 27-26, 28-27 — but could not close it out with an additional point. During that same span, the teams were tied five times. The Mustangs finally forged a 29-28 lead and were able to score the decisive point to win and take a 2-0 lead.
In Game 3, Castle Park held early leads of 6-5, 8-6 and 9-8 but could not maintain momentum as San Dieguito Academy regained the lead at 11-10, then zoomed out in front 23-11 to take a commanding lead. The Trojans did rally to trim the Mustang lead to 23-18 and 24-19 but it proved too little, too late.
Adolfo Medina led Castle Park with eight kills while William Alvarez and Anthony Navarro were each credited with four kills.
Medina had 13 kills in the Trojans’ semifinal win over fourth-seeded El Capitan (19-7).
Monty Gracey paced SDA with 11 kills while teammates Cameron Sippel had nine kills and Zac Sippel had seven kills. Setter Jake Roberts was credited with 27 assists.
Division II
Bonita Vista, meanwhile, was making its second trip to the championship round in three seasons after recording a runner-up finish in the Division III final in 2014.
The Barons appeared to be on a mission after eliminating No. 1-seeded Granite Hills in the quarterfinals and No. 4-seeded Hilltop in the semifinals. After Bonita Vista won the opening game in last Saturday’s championship game 25-21, it appeared the Barons (17-11) might run the table with four wins in this year’s playoff tournament.
But the Wildcats (19-15) responded with a 25-18 victory in the second game and then went on to win the third game 25-20 behind the power hitting of senior outside hitter Devin Pontigon.
Bonita Vista staved off elimination by rallying from an early 6-1 deficit to win the fourth game 25-21 to force a fifth game. The number five had proven magical for the Barons all through the playoffs as the team’s previous three playoff contests had all gone to deciding fifth games.
But El Camino, which eliminated second-seeded University City in three games, reeled off a quick 3-0 lead in Game 5 behind the power hitting again of Pontigon. Bonita Vista could never fully recover from that early deficit. The Barons did pull to within three points on two occasions late in the contest (8-5 and 10-7) but could never get over the hump to complete a comeback.
The Wildcats won the deciding fifth game 15-8 behind seven kills from Pontigon, who finished the five games with 38 kills, five blocks and four aces.
The Barons otherwise did themselves in with a flurry of untimely unforced errors. Balls landed just long on serves or just missed clearing the net by inches on kill attempts.
El Camino’s strategy was simple: get the ball to Pontigon for a power smash. When Pontigon was unavailable to hit, senior middle blocker Luke Arvidson was there to rack up 15 kills.
“We came into Game 1 with confidence; we were really loud,” BVHS coach Anthony Harrington explained. “Going into the next two sets, we lost our energy. No. 13 (Pontigon) started hitting the ball. Once he got going, it was hard to stop him.”
Still, it was a season of accolades for Bonita Vista, which finished third in the Metro-Mesa League standings behind top tier powers Eastlake and Otay Ranch, both of which have competed either in the Open Division or Division I playoffs in each of the past three seasons. Four of the Barons’ 10 regular season losses were to either the Titans or Mustangs in regular season play.
Bonita Vista players can also be proud of what they achieved this season.
“What I liked about this team is that it was playing to its potential,” Harrington noted with an air of pride. “From where we were seeded, we had to jump over three teams to get here. That wasn’t easy to do. It took us five games to do it each time.”
Junior setter Dakota Segina, whose energy and upbeat attitude helped fuel the team through its postseason odyssey, called his team’s journey to the CIF championship game a “great experience.”
“It was a good season,” explained Segina, who collected 34 assists in the CIF final. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team.”
Seniors Dylan Decker and Moli Fa’alogo each recorded nine kills to lead the Barons against the Wildcats. Fa’alogo, an outside hitter, also collected 12 digs and two aces. Decker, a middle blocker, was credited with eight blocks while teammate David Estrada was credited with five blocks.
Last Saturday’s championship game had a deeper emotional meaning to Decker, who was the lone remaining member of the school’s 2014 CIF runner-up team. He was seeking redemption.
Decker also was a member of the school’s Division III championship boys basketball team during the winter sports season and thus was gunning for two CIF titles in one school term.
Just appearing in two CIF finals in the same sport in a high school career is rare enough.
“It feels 10-times more special to come here the second time,” Decker explained. “This team feels more like a family the second time around. Being a leader and inspiring my teammates was special.”
As for how he feels about winning a CIF basketball championship and reaching the volleyball finals in the season school term?
“I can’t really explain how it feels,” he said, holding back emotion.
Power ball
In last Friday’s Division IV final, second-seeded Sage Creek (20-12-2) defeated top-seeded Pacific Ridge (21-3) by scores of 24-26, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25.
In last Saturday’s Division I championship game, third-seeded Mt. Carmel (21-15) defeated eighth-seeded Del Norte (16-17) in four games by scores of 25-10, 17-25, 25-21, 29-27.
In the Open Division finale, top-seeded Carlsbad (27-7) swept second-seeded Cathedral Catholic (23-10) by scores of 25-23, 25-20, 25-20.
Dylan Hunt registered 25 kills for Mt. Carmel.
SoCal regionals
Six San Diego Section teams qualified for the Southern California regional championship tournament.
Division II section champion El Camino received the No. 4 seed in the Division III regionals while Division III section champion San Dieguito Academy received the No. 6 seed in the Division III regionals.
Division I section champion Mt. Carmel received the No. 8 seed in the Division II regionals while Open Division section semifinalist La Jolla received the No. 4 seed in the Division II regionals.
Open Division section champion Carlsbad received the No. 4 seed in the Division III regionals while Open Division section runner-up received the No. 6 seed in the Division III regionals.
SAN DIEGO SECTION BOYS VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Montgomery High School
Friday, May 20
Division IV
(2) Sage Creek defeated (1) Pacific Ridge 24-26, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25
Division III
(2) San Dieguito Academy defeated (1) Castle Park 27-25, 30-28, 25-20
Saturday, May 21
Division II
(3) El Camino defeated (8) Bonita Vista 21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 21-25, 15-8
Division I
(3) Mt. Carmel defeated (8) Del Norte 25-10, 17-25, 25-21, 29-27
Open Division
(1) Carlsbad defeated (2) Cathedral Catholic 25-23, 25-20, 25-20
