Cliff Ficker was on fire from the service for the San Marcos boys volleyball team in a four-set victory over rival Dos Pueblos in a Channel League showdown of first-place teams on Thursday night.
Ficker, the Royals’ junior libero, went on a 15-point service in the fourth set to put a Dos Pueblos comeback to rest in 25-19, 25-14, 19-25, 25-14 win at the Thunderhut.
San Marcos improves to 6-1 in league and 18-3 overall while Dos Pueblos is 5-2, 13-6.
Dos Pueblos was leading 11-9 when Ficker rotated to the serving position for the Royals. Opposite hitter Luke Walker split a big block to make it a one-point difference and the score was tied after the Chargers failed to convert on an impressive dig by Grant Hughes on an unblocked Walker blast.
San Marcos took the lead for good after a Ficker jump serve was mishandled, lead to a DP hitting error.
The tough serves kept coming and the Royals kept scoring. After a stuff block by Walker, San Marcos led 24-11.
DP middle Matthew Wilcox sided out to finally end Ficker’s incredible run.
“I’ve never seen it, and in all our years I’d don’t think you’ve ever seen it,” San Marcos coach Roger Kuntz said to a Noozhawk reporter of a 15-point service run in a rivalry match. “I keep preaching all the time that we want three serves out of (the guys) when (they) go back to the line. If each person goes back and gives us three serves, you have a good chance of winning that game.
“I don’t think I’ve seen (Cliff) get two or three in a row all year long, so that’s uncharacteristic of him but good for us.”
Ficker was inspired by something Kuntz told the team before the match.
“Our coach said it was up to us to do something special, for everyone to step up and do something special. And tonight was my night to do something special,” he said.
Ficker’s consistency was impressive.
“That young man had a great service run and started feeling it,” said DP coach Ehren Hug.
“I’ve have my ups and downs, switching between floats and jumps, just trying to find my rhythm,” Ficker said of his serve. “It’s hard getting in rhythm, especially for me. But once I get in it, I kind of sit in.
“It’s pure adrenalin,” he said of riding a long service run. “Halfway through it’s in my head that missing isn’t an option. And I’m just pounding it harder and harder.”
Ficker’s service proficiency derailed DP’s hopes of taking the match into a fifth set. The Chargers built momentum with the victory in the third set. Sophomore middle Noah Grant was a spark plug with his blocking and hitting in the set.
The first set was tight. San Marcos scored consecutive points on a DP service error and a Walker kill of a Hansen Streeter backset to go up 21-18.
“He’s been a dynamo on the backside all year long,” said Kuntz of the lefty Walker. Mason (Rice) and Jack (Wilson) are the highlight reels, but when you really look at the numbers each time, it’s Luke. He’s the guy that’s putting up the key blocks at times on the back side and the other thing is he’s a go-to for Hansen, when we need to get out of trouble.”
Wilcox sided out for the Chargers to make it 21-19 before San Marcos closed out the set with a 4-0 run. Rice scored on a tip, Kyle Foley had a solo block, DP committed a serving error and Foley blocked another attack for the final point.
San Marcos dominated the second set, rolling out to a 17-6 lead. The Royals scored 21 points before DP reached double figures.
“They struggled to find any kind of consistency overall,” said Hug of his team. “I didn’t think we passed terribly bad tonight, but not terribly well. I don’t feel like we locked in for the whole match. We just kind of had our moments.”
The moments came in the third set and early in the fourth before Ficker and Royals took charge.
“I told (the players) at the beginning it’s going to take a little bit of magic to win the game against DP,” said Kuntz. “It doesn’t matter whether you thump them the first two games or not, it’s always going to be a battle at the end.”
Wilson led a balance San Marcos attack with 10 kills and four blocks. Walker and Rice each had eight kills, and Rice and Ficker each passed a perfect 3.00. Ficker also led the team with 15 digs.
“I’ll tell you our serve-receive once again was the way you guys saw it when we beat Santa Barbara,” said Kuntz. “We were money on serve-receive tonight. We kind of faltered just a little bit, but the first two games were starting to pass like we do. It’s the old adage: ‘If you pass, you succeed and if you don’t, you fail.’”
Wilcox led the DP attack with eight kills, Micah Goss had six kills and four blocks and Jan Schmidtchen added five kills. Grant led the team with five blocks and Nick Schultz-Clifford added four.