CARLSBADCARLSBAD — The Westview and Sage Creek boys volleyball teams played each other for the fourth time this season Friday in the regular season finale that settled the Avocado League championship.
Sage Creek won this battle, evening the season series at 2-2 with a dramatic 24-26, 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 15-12 win.
Will there be a Round 5?
Both teams are a near lock for inclusion in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoffs, which will be announced this weekend. There’s a decent chance they’ll be seeded Nos. 4 and 5 and play each other in the first round.
Both coaches feel their teams are peaking at the right time.
“They’re a really good team. We’re a really good team,” said Sage Creek coach David Savage, whose Bobcats tied for the league title but go into CIF as the champion because they won the second-round head-to-head matchup. “We have 18 players on our team. They’re all really capable club players and/or high school players who have played since freshman year. They’re all interchangeable. We have outsides who can play middle, opposites who can play outside. Everyone can play multiple positions.”
Whether it’s familiarity or just two evenly matched teams, the entire match was back and forth. The Wolverines (28-10, 6-2) appeared headed to the exit down 7-2 and 10-5 in the fourth set. But they kept chipping away.
Down 17-13, they went on a 7-1 run. Middle blocker Xavier O’Boyle bounced a ball in the middle after a long rally for a 24-21 lead, and Ryan Dang put the set away with a kill in serve receive.
“All year they’ve been fighting back, every game,” Westview coach Michael Amonette said. “There’s never been a quit on this team so the fact they came back again is not a surprise.”
Neither team had a lead of more than two points in the fifth set until Sage Creek (35-9, 6-2) went up 14-11 on Charlie Salmon’s kill in transition. Two plays later, Salmon put the match away with a kill in serve receive. Salmon finished with 11 kills, one of three Bobcats players in double figures in kills. Senior Caiden Rex finished with a match-high 20 kills on a .645 hitting percentage. Senior Justin Baldner added 16 kills.
“We’ve been playing the same team over and over again the past three years,” said senior setter Charlie Hartmann. “They’ve been one of our biggest rivals. It’s always an even match. Everyone always brings energy so everyone’s trying the hardest they can on defense. It’s really tough to get points back-to-back-to-back.”
A balanced Wolverines attacked was led by seniors Ryan Dang and Owen Sajnog, who each had 16 kills. Middle blocker O’Boyle was a force all night and finished with 13 kills and three solo blocks.
In the first set, the only time a team scored more than two consecutive points came when Sage Creek scored four points in a row when down 18-16.
The Wolverines sided out when Dang crushed a ball off a one-handed set by Donovan Weber. Jamie Bae had an ace to even it at 20-20. The set was tied at 24 until a double by Sage Creek followed by a Sajnog kill in transition gave the set to the visitors.
The second set was just as close. The Bobcats put together a 4-0 run to go up 8-5. Then it was back to a sideout contest. After Sage Creek went up 21-16, the Wolverines scored four straight, including two straight kills off the bench in transition from Justin Texeira.
Junior middle blocker Mason McConnell had a stuff block to put the Bobcats up 23-20 then put a ball away in the middle in transition for the 25-21 win.
It was indicative of how the night would go for Sage Creek as it relied on its outstanding defense to set up an offense that can beat teams from any number of spots on the court.
“We’ve been through these situations so much as a team,” Bobcats senior libero Ethan Lam said. “We trust each other and put it on the line. It’s a team effort. We studied that team multiple times. We knew what we needed to do, and we were able to execute it well.”
