The Castle Park High School boys volleyball team is apparently headed where no other Trojan team in the sport has gone before: the San Diego Section championship game.
Castle Park defeated visiting Del Lago Academy 25-18, 25-19, 25-18 in Wednesday’s Division IV semifinals to advance to Friday’s championship game at Canyon Crest Academy. The top-seeded Trojans (13-7) will play third-seeded Lincoln (13-5) at 5 p.m.
“I told the team this was an opportunity for them, the door was open,” CPHS coach Aaron Partch explained. “There are 50 years of banners hanging in the gym and only five of them are for CIF champions in team sports. Our girls soccer team won a CIF banner this year and we’re following in their footsteps. We’d like to be the sixth team to hang a CIF banner in the gym.”
Castle Park finished third out of four teams in the Metro-Pacific League this season but received the No. 1 among Division IV teams. Metro-Pacific League co-champions Hilltop and Chula Vista also received top four seeds in their playoff divisions. Chula Vista received the No. 2 seed in Division III while Hilltop received the No. 4 seed in Division II.
Chula Vista will join the Trojans at Canyon Crest Academy on Friday after sweeping third-seeded Christian in Wednesday’s Division III semifinals. The Spartans (21-4) will face top-seeded Helix (27-11) in the division championship game at 7 p.m.
Del Lago Academy entered Wednesday’s semifinal match-up with a 20-11 record. The Firebirds, comprised of just freshmen and sophomores, swept fifth-seeded Chula Vista Learning Community City in last Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Del Lago seemed to play its best volleyball late in each set but the harder-hitting Trojans proved just too much to handle.
“We’ve steadily improved through the year — that’s all a coach can ask for,” Partch said. “We had our chances against both Hilltop and Chula Vista but just couldn’t finish off those games. The intensity level has kept climbing. The kids are coming together at the right time.
“The beauty of our team is that anyone can step up at any time. Our defense has kept us in games and our offense has gotten better.”
Castle Park defeated ninth-seeded El Capitan in last Friday’s quarterfinals, winning in four games 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17 to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
The Trojans dispatched the Firebirds in just a little more than an hour.
“It feels awesome to be going to the CIF finals,” Partch said. “It feels fantastic. Our school has never won a boys volleyball CIF championship. We’d like to be the first one.”
Kill leaders for Castle Park include Oscar Pacheco (120), William Alvarez (92) and Adolfo Medina (64). Pacheco also leads the Trojans with 17 aces while Abraham Rodriguez paces the team with 240 assists.
Chula Vista has taken care of business in both of its playoff matches thus far. The host Spartans dispatched the 10th-seeded San Diego Cavers in three sets in last Saturday’s quarterfinals, winning 25-20, 25-6, 25-17.
The Spartans won by scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 in Wednesday’s semifinal round.
Andrew Raffe led the way with 15 kills while Demitrious Gibbs had 13 kills. Greg Fernandez added 10 blocks and nine kills while Omar Morales collected 46 assists in eliminating the Patriots.
“We’ve worked hard to get where we’re at,” Raffe told a TV news crew on site after the semifinal win.
Trojan spikers make history with CIF banner
CASTLE PARK WINS DIVISION IV TITLE; CHULA VISTA PLACES 2ND IN DIVISION III
Last Friday’s San Diego Section divisional championship boys volleyball matches at Canyon Crest Academy were a showcase, in particular, for the Metro-Pacific League.
The top-seeded Castle Park Trojans spiked the third-seeded Lincoln Hornets to win the Division IV championship, while the second-seeded Chula Vista Spartans recorded a runner-up finish in the Division III title contest after falling to the top-seeded Helix Highlanders.
It was the first CIF division championship for Castle Park in the sport and the first finals appearances for both Metro-Pacific League rivals.
Braced by 18 kills from senior Oscar Pacheco, the Trojans (14-7) prevailed by scores of 25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22 in a highly competitive match-up against the Hornets (16-6). Other kill leaders for Castle Park included Brandon Alvarado (12), Adolfo Medina (seven) and William Alvarez (seven).
Pacheco brought a team-leading 140 kills into the CIF final match.
“We took the first game — we kept a four- to five-point lead pretty much throughout — but in the other two games we won, we were behind and had to come back to win,” CPHS coach Aaron Partch explained. “Our guys stuck together and played hard. I told them to play for the moment, play for the point. We played hard and made it work.
“From a coaching angle, it was a great experience to watch the team from a starting point to where we finished. We kept getting better each game. We were playing our best at the end.”
Helix scored its first boys volleyball division title with a 25-18, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21 victory against Chula Vista (21-5) in another highly competitive title contest.
Marcus Norris led the Highlanders (28-11) with 23 kills.
San Diego Section Boys Volleyball Championships
Friday, May 22
Canyon Crest Academy
Division III
(1) Helix defeated (2) Chula Vista 3 games to 1
Division IV
(1) Castle Park defeated (3) Lincoln 3 games to 1
