The outside hitters have received the majority of the accolades on a talented, well-balanced San Marcos boys volleyball team this season.
On Wednesday, though, it was middle Kyle Foley who deserved the spotlight for the Royals after a dominating performance in a four-set win over second-seeded Servite in a CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinal match at the Thunderhut.
Servite didn’t have an answer for Foley. He buried a team-leading 12 kills on a .647 hitting percentage, recorded a team-best five total blocks, including three solos, and provided solid serving in a 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 triumph.
The victory, which was the 400th in coach Roger Kuntz’s career at San Marcos, sends the 30-7 Royals into a rematch with Tesoro in the semifinals on Saturday in South Orange County. They’ve lost at Tesoro in the playoffs the last two seasons, with last year’s meeting coming in the Division 2 semifinals. Tesoro went on to beat Servite for the title.
Foley’s outstanding play helped San Marcos take down a strong Servite team that finished second to Division 1 Mater Dei in the Trinity League.
He got it going in the second set with a block of a free ball that gave the Royals a 9-8 lead. They never trailed again in the set, and Foley finished it with two kills and a combo block with Mason Rice.
He crushed four kills to spark the Royals to a 10-6 lead in the third set and recorded a solo block for a 22-14 advantage.
In the fourth set, the senior who is headed to Hunter College in New York City went off for a solo block, a straight-down spike and another block to put the Royals ahead 14-9.
“We haven’t lost a home game since I’ve been here and I was not going to lose one tonight,” said Foley of his motivation. “My teammates were passing the ball and Hansen (Streeter) was feeding me perfectly.
“It was just my night tonight. (My teammates) just kept me going and (Servite) just couldn’t find a stop for me.”
Kuntz felt Foley was due for a break-out match after nursing an ankle injury for a few weeks.
“All of sudden this week in practice he’s just coming unglued,” said Kuntz. “He says, ‘Coach, I just feel it again. I’m back in my game.’
“You know, we couldn’t feed him enough tonight. Hansen and I are going to talk because I think we should have given him more (sets).”
Streeter spread the ball around beautifully to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. Jack Wilson had 11 kills and hit. 524, Luke Walker put away 10 kills and Mason Rice added nine kills. The Royals hit .344 as a team and had 14 total blocks against a Servite squad that had a potent outside attack, led by 6-foot-7 lefty Eamon Rigdon (11 kills) and Jack Boschetti (14).
“That was a really good team over there. I knew we had to do something special to beat them and I knew I had to step up and do my work,” said Foley.
Kuntz said beating a team like Servite “tells us we can stand up to the big competition. When we lost that first game, 25-23, you find out what you’re all about at that point, because they could easily run and go. They’re a strong enough team to do that. But I’ll tell you what, once again, our big players played big in a big game.”
Servite used the rocket serves of Hudson Hamer to go on a 4-0 run and take a 15-12 lead in the first set.
The Royals six times knotted the score (at 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23) before Servite scored the final two points on a side out and a kill from Aidan Acton.
Another tough Servite serve led to a San Marcos hitting error that tied the score at 14 in the second set.
The Royals responded with three straight points. Streeter fed Foley for a kill and the senior setter blocked a Servite over-set on the next play. Foley got a touch on a Friars’ attack and San Marcos converted it into a kill by Rice from the back row for a 17-14 lead.
Hamer put down a San Marcos overpass to pull Sevite to 22-19 before Foley took over. He sided out, then put down an over-pass off a Walker serve, and finished the set with a block assist.
The Royals’ front line dominated in the third set, powering the team to a 20-13 advantage.
What also helped was an adjustment on their serving. The players started mixing in off-speed top-spin serves and floaters with the hard jumpers.
“In game one, we got out-served by them and we were kind of fluffing things and serving out. We had five out serves in the first game,” said Kuntz. “I thought our serving was great in the last three games games. In fact, outstanding.”
The Royals had it all going in the fourth set as Rice, Foley, Wilson and No. 2 middle Landon Sheffey scored to open up a 19-13 lead.
“Sheffey stood up tonight, he played a really good game,” said Kuntz.
Wilson put the finishing touch on the quarterfinal win and an undefeated home season with a smash off the Servite block.
Now, San Marcos hits the road for a semifinal rematch against Tesoro.
“This is our third year in a row playing at their place, so it’s not been a happy place for us,” said Kuntz. “But these guys want to go back and try to do it and try to get it back for us.”