CARMEL VALLEYCARMEL VALLEY — The plan for Torrey Pines’ boys volleyball team this season was to have sophomore Jack Slight handle a good portion of the setting duties.
A high-level club player and the younger brother of Grand Canyon University All-American and former Falcons setter Nick Slight, the 6-foot-1 Jack Slight is one of the top setters in the nation in his age group.
So when the Slight family moved to Arizona shortly before the season started, it left coach Nick Rubacky with a pretty easy pivot decision to make — move on quickly and stick with the less conventional 6-2 offense behind seniors Brandon Pho and Jake Morley.
The result is now one of the top regular seasons in program history.
The Falcons once again ran a balanced attack behind their dual setters Wednesday, April 24, in their regular season finale, a 25-20, 25-18, 25-13 win over visiting Poway.
“We don’t win 35 matches last year with those two guys setting and mess with that,” Rubacky said. “We have two senior veteran setters who are our quarterbacks on the court. They’re both fairly levelheaded kids. They’re able to take a step back and have a good view on things that allows them to be good leaders without having to say too much.”
Much like they’ve done all season, Pho and Morley put up identical assist numbers for the Falcons (26-3, 7-1 North County Conference). They each notched 12 assists. Both players stay in when they rotate to the front row, using their size and athleticism to set up blocks and take big swings on the right pin. Pho had six kills to Morley’s three.
“Jake and I have a lot of confidence in each other,” said Pho, who sured the 400-assist mark on the season. “Having each other and that camaraderie on the court that we know that if one of us is out, we’ve got the confidence that we’re still going to win every game.”
On a day he was named to Volleyball Magazine’s Fab 50 list, senior Christian Connell led the way with a a team-high 10 kills. (Carlsbad’s Parker Tomkinson was also named to the list while their teammates, Declan Flanagan and Roman Payne, respectively, were named to the Top 25 Underclassmen to Watch).
The Falcons should earn the No. 1 seed in the Open Division of the CIF playoffs. Poway (21-14, 2-5) will finish the regular season Friday, April 26, at Del Norte hopeful of a chance to slip into one of the final Open spots.
The scrappy Titans played April 24 without their best player – 6-foot-7 opposite/middle Danny Sawyer – and outsider hitter Caden Lieras, both nursing injuries. Ryan Johnson led Poway with 10 kills.
“We’re playing with good energy and guys are stepping up, but tonight in reality Torrey Pines showed with it’s the No. 1 team,” Titans coach Charlie Jackson said. “They served tougher than anyone we’ve faced all season. Good energy. Making good plays. If we can play like that, we can beat some teams. Maybe not Torrey Pines, but maybe we can sneak in there and beat some teams people didn’t think we could.”
Pho is headed to Division I Farleigh Dickinson to play in the fall. Morley will brother Truman Morley at BYU. Truman is a setter on the Cougars who is finishing up his two-year mission. Jake will spend one year at BYU before his two-year mission starts and may attempt to play for the Cougars after that.
“When Jack Slight moved away, it was obvious who was going to be the two setters,” said Morley, nearing 500 assists on the season. “At first I felt the pressure, but as the season went on I found my confidence and Brandon found his confidence and we took over as floor generals to help the team have success.”
Once again, the Falcons defense was the collective unsung hero. Libero David Quinones led the Falcons with 22 digs and added three aces. Morley added six digs and Connell had five.
The Falcons two senior middle blockers – UC Santa Cruz-bound Kianoush Mohebbi and Zach Johnson –combined for three stuff blocks and six block assists. Johnson, a basketball athlete playing volleyball for the first time, filled in for junior Bjorn Hawe on senior night.
“We should be the No. 1 seed going into the CIF playoffs,” Rubacky said of his squad that’s ranked No. 6 in MaxPreps’ national rankings. “That brings us to 26-3 on the season, which is pretty incredible. We’ve got a lot of momentum going right now, and we hope to carry that into the CIF playoffs.”
