Laguna Blanca and Valencia slugged it out all match long and went the distance in a CIF-SS Division 4 boys volleyball second-round clash Saturday at Merovick Gym.
In the fifth set, the visiting Vikings delivered the knockout blows and ended Laguna Blanca’s season. Behind six kills from senior outside hitter Jet Ricks in the deciding set, Valencia (25-12) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 15-7 victory.
The full match scores were 25-23, 13-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-7.
It was a tremendous 2 1/2-hour battle between the evenly matched teams.
Ricks led all hitters with 19 kills, outside Jarek Pascua put away 12 kills and opposite Dane Ricks (Jet’s twin brother) added 10.
Laguna Blanca (24-5) got solid performances from its attacking duo of Tyson Deveze and Ganden Walker, who each recorded 15 kills. Middle Drew Levinson also had a big night with 12 kills.
“Big picture, when you really look it, what I told the guys was, ‘What a great experience. That’s what high school sports is all about,’” said Laguna Blanca coach Jason Donnelly. “Two good teams going at it. Unfortunately (for us), there were about 10 minutes there where they were a little better than we were. That’s what happens, it wasn’t for a lack of effort on our part.
“We left it out there all night long and I couldn’t be prouder of our guys. There were a lot of opportunities where we could’ve folded and we didn’t. To our guys’ credit, they were right there until the very end.”
The Owls rallied from a 24-20 deficit in the first set as Deveze unleashed a devastating jump serve and whittled the deficit to 24-23.
Valencia coach Brendan Riley called time outs at 24-22 and 24-23. The Vikings won the set on a service error after the second timeout.
“He always has the green light,” said Donnelly of his talented junior bombing serves.
“We had trouble handling his serve,” Valencia coach Brendan Riley said of Deveze. “The times that they beat us was because of his serve. But it’s not just him, they are a great team.”
The Owls shook off the close loss and dominated the second set. They roared out to a 9-1 lead and stretched it to 21-9 as setter Liam Knezevic fed Walker, Deveze and Levinson for kills.
A Pascua kill broke an 11-all tie and Valencia never trailed again in the third set.
Ahead 19-10 in the fourth set, Laguna Blanca held off a stirring comeback by the Vikings. They pulled to within three (22-19), before Deveze crushed a ball down the line for a side out. Walker scored in transition to put the Owls at game point.
A Dane Ricks side out and a net call against Laguna Blanca kept Valencia alive. But Walker responded with a big blast for the Owls to end the set and send the match to the winner-take-all fifth.
Jet Ricks got Valencia off to a rip-roaring start with a thundering kill from the left side for a side out. He scored twice more and the Vikings added two more points on Laguna Blanca hitting errors to take a 5-0 lead.”
“I started him in the front row for a reason,” said Valencia coach Brendan Riley of the 6-foot-2 Jet Ricks.
Riley was confident his team would step up in the fifth set.
“This is a senior-driven team,” he said. “All year I have not had to get them up for anything. They are experienced. The biggest thing (in playing a fifth set) was not to get into a hole. Fortunately, we had a fast start. I was confident that once we got a fast start we would win.”
Donnelly was surprised by his team’s rocky start to the fifth set.
“We rolled the dice. We start in that same rotation every single match, basically every single game we played this year for the most part — starting rotation 3,” he explained. “We had the ball in our hands to start and I don’t remember ever giving up four in a row in serve-receive there, so we’re down 5-0 to start that game. It’s uncharacteristic of us.
“To their credit, they were serving really tough. The serve and pass game was really important tonight. When we were able to get them out of system, we controlled the game. And, when they were able to get us out of system, they put a lot of pressure on Tyson and Ganden, and everybody knows we’re setting them a lot of balls. Unfortunately in game five, we didn’t pass very well.”
As the Owls struggled with their passing, the deficit grew to 9-3.
Valencia ended the match with a service ace.
“We had a great scouting report and a great game plan,” said Donnelly. “We executed at a pretty high level but there were a couple of plays that were the difference. Again, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. (Valencia) made a couple more plays than we did. In volleyball in the rally-scoring era, that’s how it works.”
