Laguna Blanca setter Baylor Wilson can’t go wrong in any rotation alignment the Owls are in on the volleyball court.
Wilson has two powerhouse outside hitters in Liam Knezevic and Tyson Deveze, and they play opposite each other, which means he always has a go-to attacker to feed at the net.
Knezevic and Deveze combined for 33 kills Wednesday night, powering the Owls to a 25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 victory over Pacifica Christian of Newport Beach in a CIF-SS Division 6 quarterfinal match at Merovick Gym.
Laguna Blanca (13-7) will travel to play second-seeded El Toro in a semifinal match on Saturday.
Knezevic and Deveze set the tone early against Pacifica Christian. Deveze sparked a four-point run to overcome a 7-6 deficit in the first set. He sided out, picked up a dig that Knezevic converted into a kill and then delivered two service aces.
After a side out by Pacifica Christian’s Hudson Reynolds, Knezevic went to work. He smacked four kills and served an ace during a 5-2 run for a 15-10 lead.
Deveze led the Owls with 18 kills on a .444 hitting percentage and Knezevic put up 15 kills on a .320 average, served three aces and had four solo blocks.
“It’s great having them out there,” said Wilson. “Even if I miss a sign, I know they’re going to put (the ball) in the court, and that’s what’s so great about them.”
Coach Jason Donnelly expressed his appreciate for Wilson, who played libero last season.
“Baylor Wilson is just an absolute stud,” he said. “You want that guys on your team in any sport, he’s a competitor, he’s a leader. He loves to play and he does what the team needs all the time. I just love being able to count on Baylor, and I love being his coach.”
Having a dynamic duo like Knezevic and Deveze make the Owls a tough team.
“When you can put those guys opposite each other, one’s always going to be in the front row,” said Donnelly. “They both can score points from the back row, they’re both really good passers and really good servers. Everything sort of goes around them. We don’t want to necessarily set them as much as we do, but they score points, and we had matchups tonight that we liked and both took great advantage of it.”
The Owls had another potent contributor Wednesday in sophomore middle Soren Alldredge. He had 10 kills on 13 swings, with just one error, for a hitting percentage of .692.
“It helps so, so much” said Wilson of Alldredge’s attacks in the middle. “It gives us such a good variety. I have three options rather just Tyson and Liam on the outside, and it really helps.”
Said Donnelly: “Soren played great. He’s a sophomore that just keeps getting better and better. Not only is he scoring points, but we had some pretty specific blocking schemes that he was able to kind of recognize and he communicated at a really high level tonight. He grew up a lot just in this match from being a good player that can score against most teams to being a really elite middle blocker as a 10th grader. It was really nice to see.”
Donnelly said Laguna Blanca’s first-set domination was the “best we’ve played really all year to start a match. Our guys knew what (Pacifica Christian) was going to do. We felt like we were prepared.”
The Owls kept the Tritons on their heels in the second set, rolling out to a 10-3 lead. The visitors picked up their game and cut the deficit to 18-17. But Knezevic, Deveze and Alldredge scored points down the stretch to finished out the set.
Pacifica Christian’s athletic outside hitter Hudson Reynolds got hot in the third set, helping the Tritons build a 14-11 lead. Laguna Blanca fought back, getting two kills from Alldredge, and blocks from Knezevic and Wilson to knot the score at 14. The teams traded leads before the Tritons pulled out the win on a service ace and two kills.
Despite the third-set loss, Donnelly was pleased how his team responded when Pacifica Christian stepped up.
“To respond in the third is what I’m most proud of, because we had our chances and we let it slip away,” he said. “And to lose that game 25-23, I told (the team) I didn’t see it as a sweep either way. I really didn’t that when I was preparing, so no big deal. Let’s just keep playing.”
Down 10-6 in the fourth, an ace by libero Jamie Levinson started Laguna Blanca on 15-4 run that put the Owls back in command.