The blocking by the Dos Pueblos boys volleyball team told the story in a 25-19, 25-19, 25-23 sweep at defending CIF-SS Division 2 champion Upland in a first-round playoff match on Thursday night.
The Chargers compiled 30 blocks in the win. Micah Goss led the way with eight blocks and middles Noah Grant and Nick Schultz-Clifford collected seven and five, respectively.
“Our serve receive was solid, our service pressure was constant, but our block tonight was at another level,” said coach Ehren Hug. “We just smothered them at the net from every position and it caused them to start tipping and rolling and setting it over, which we responded with excellent and focused hustle defense.
“We are so proud of the relentless hustle we put forth tonight. We dove after everything.”
Jan Schmidtchen took charge at the net with eight kills and four blocks.
“He was thundering tonight. He made so many smart swings, but when Wyatt sent him the juice, he blasted it,” said Hug.
The coach said Goss froze Upland’s defenders with powerful hitting from the back row. He also had eight kills.
Hug lauded the decision making and defense of Silver.
“One of his scrappier games as a defender, but his location tonight was on point, and he just made the right decisions.”
Lukas Kennett provided some good defensive play with seven digs.
Dos Pueblos (23-7) will be home for a quarterfinal match against top-seeded Redondo Union on Wednesday.
Santa Barbara 3, Anaheim-Canyon 1
Two tough serves by Mikey Denver enable Santa Barbara High to score the final two points for a 28-26 victory in the fourth set, giving the Dons the Division 2 playoff-opening win in Anaheim.
The match scores were 25-19, 28-26, 17-25, 28-26.
The win sends Santa Barbara (16-12) to a quarterfinals match against Beckman on Tuesday at J.R. Richards Gym. The match was rescheduled from Wednesday.
“This was a huge win for our boys. We definitely didn’t want this season to end,” said Santa Barbara coach Chad Arneson. “Our boys prevailed and we played as a team tonight.”
Will Harman continually tooled the Canyon blocks and finished with a team-high 19 kills. Raglan Kear had 16 kills, four blocks and four service aces.
“He had an emphatic block on their best hitter to put us up by two games,” said Arneson. “His serving set the tone to get our team in a good groove tonight.”
Denver had a big night in the middle with 10 kills and two solo blocks.
The defensive play also was key for the Dons.
“The passing and digging for the entire team was crucial. Everyone on the team stepped it up when we needed them most. As a team, we had 32 total digs.”
Libero Dana Whitney passed for a 2.78 average (out of 3.00) and had five digs.
“Dana’s senior leadership and steady play in the back row was key,” said Arneson.
He also lauded the play of senior middle Jackson Dejong.
Laguna Blanca 3, Bolsa Grande 0
Tyson Deveze was a force for Laguna Blanca in a 25-14, 25-13, 25-15 sweep over Bolsa Grande in a CIF-SS Division 4 boys volleyball playoff opener on Thursday at Merovick Gym.
Deveze blasted 18 kills on a .652 hitting percentage and served five aces to pace the Owls’ attack.
“Tyson Deveze set the tone from the service early on,” aid coach Jason Donnelly. “We were able to keep them out of system pretty much the whole night and dictate how the match was played.”
Ganden Walker put away 14 kills and did a good job in serve receive, Drew Levinson added six kills and Brady Clifford provided strong serving as Laguna Blanca never let up.
“It was great to see us play our best volleyball of the year as a team,” said Donnelly.
Setter Liam Knezevic dished out 40 assists, had four blocks and two service.
“Liam did a great job running the offense. He established the middles (Drew Levinson and Soren Alldredge) early and that put our pin hitters in a number of 1 on 1 situations.”
Laguna Blanca (22-3) will host Valencia on Saturday in the second round.
Flintridge Prep 3, Bishop Diego 1
The Cardinals lost on the road in a first-round Division 5 match, 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-19.
Palmdale Aerospace Academy 3, Providence 0
The host Patriots couldn’t overcome a slow start and dropped a 25-14, 25-20, 25-23 decision in a Division 7 first-round match on Thursday at Westmont College.
“After coming out real timid in game one, the guys began to turn it on and the games were close,” said Providence coach Dan Terry. “By game three, we had really hit our stride and I know the team left everything they had on the court, especially our two seniors, Teleios Zermeno and Hunter LaBrie.”
LaBrie led Providence with nine kills and two service aces.