POWAY — Poway plays in one of the toughest boys volleyball conferences in the state. The Titans play a robust non-conference schedule that includes hosting the Best of the West tournament, widely regarded as the top prep event for the sport.
The challenging schedule is done for moments just like Friday night.
Poway faced several tests against visiting La Costa Canyon and ed every single one, resulting in a 21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-23 win in the quarterfinals of the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 playoffs. The No. 2 seed Titans (25-16) play the winner of Scripps Ranch-Mission Vista in the semifinals next Wednesday.
“I don’t think we had our best hitting night,” said Poway coach Charlie Jackson, who earlier this week earned his 400th career victory. “But we played good defense and tried to limit our errors after the first set, and it showed. First set, too many errors. Cut that out and you don’t need to have your best hitting night to stay alive.”
Perhaps Poway’s greatest strength is its lack of a hierarchy in a sense. The Titans were led by a freshman — 6-foot-8 hammer Daniel Hornyak, who had 13 kills.
Hornyak, who also pitches on the Titans’ baseball team, brought constant pressure from the service line as well with five aces.
But their most effective hitter was senior middle Lucas Nickson, who had 10 kills and hit .353 with six blocks.
“We have a good coach giving us a good gameplan,” Nickson said. “We know our hitters. We know what we’re up against. It’s really just one solid motion when you’re up there. We just have to play volleyball.
The Mavericks came in with a less-than-impressive 12-18 record, but they also played one of the toughest schedules in the county.
The visitors pushed Poway in every set, something they’ve done all season.
“I think it’s a few too many mistakes, but it’s also a credit to them,” coach Sean Murphy said. “It was tough for the boys mentally to lose this many games against good teams, but this game showed they’re more than capable of hanging with the best of the best.”
LCC was led by Matthew Rowen’s 11 kills and Owen Shaw’s 10. Bennett Brandenburg chipped in with six kills. Those three are all underclassmen.
Set No. 1 was a classic sideout affair. Neither team scored more than three points in a row until the Mavericks did so down 15-12. Landon Smith and Jayden Magnin combined on a stuff block and Clarke Taylor-Smith followed that with an ace for their first lead since 10-8. Several Titans errors did them in at the end of the set, including ing a free ball out of bounds and a service error to end the set.
The Mavericks tied it at 6-6 early in the second set, but they wouldn’t get any closer as the hosts made it 1-1. The Titans matched LCC’s 3-0 late run with one of their own. Nickson had a stuff block and two kills in the middle to earn the final three Titans points himself.
Set No. 3 was much of the same with the Mavericks matching up point-by-point with a fairly consistent sideout game. The Mavericks were up 17-16 when Hornyak went to the service line and ripped four consecutive aces on both ends of a Mavericks timeout. The Titans had four set points but allowed the visitors to tie it at 24-24 after three straight hitting errors. After a timeout, Hornyak put a ball away on the outside in serve receive and senior middle Landen Roberts had a stuff block for the 26-24 win.
The Titans again struggled to close in the fourth set. Two points away from the match at 23-20, Poway was in the net, gave up on ace to Rowen and hit the next ball in the net. But Nickson put it away from the middle after a timeout, forcing LCC to take its second timeout of the set. Hornyak put it away on match point.
Poway seemed to play the end-of-set points with the same calm mentality as the beginning.
“Senior leadership plays a big role for our team,” said senior outside hitter Jack Fleck, who had seven kills. “A big part of our program is culture. For us, the seniors carry a lot of culture in order to it down. It helps shape the younger kids.”
