Mater Dei Catholic to play in first boys volleyball state championship
The California Interscholastic Federation will hold its inaugural boys volleyball state championship games Saturday at Fresno City College. A Metro Conference team will be involved in the history-making endeavor.
Mater Dei Catholic High School, the reigning Metro-South Bay League, San Diego Section Division III and Southern California Division IV regional champion across all three levels, will meet the Northern California regional champion Livingston Wolves (37-6) at 11 a.m.
The Crusaders (32-10) hope to add a state championship gold medal to their long list of achievements so far this season.
Temperatures are forecast to top the 100-degree mark in the Central Valley city this weekend, so on-court action should be hot as well.
Mater Dei Catholic head coach Marissa Ritchie said her team is deserving of the honor of playing in the Golden State’s first Division IV championship game.
“Our team owes this successful season to accountability, drive and discipline,” she said. “Our seniors have set this goal since their sophomore year, with motivation to get the job done. Every off-season they stayed working to make sure they came back stronger each season. The team will end this season knowing that hard work pays off.”
The Crusaders, seeded first in the Division IV SoCal bracket, qualified for Saturday’s state final after defeating seventh-seeded Los Angeles Wildwood, 3-1, last Saturday by scores of 25-22, 25-27, 25-13, 25-17 to capture the regional championship title.
Mater Dei Catholic opened the three-round regional playoffs with 3-0 sweeps of eighth-seeded California Academy of Math and Science (25-8, 25-19, 25-19) and fourth-seeded Brea Olinda (25-16, 25-21, 25-19).
The Crusaders carry a cumulative nine-match winning streak (6-0 in the playoffs) into Saturday’s state final.
Mater Dei Catholic, the No. 1 seed in the Division III section playoffs, finished 3-0 in the divisional playoffs with prior wins over eighth-seeded Calexico (23-7), 3-1, in the quarterfinals (25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17), fifth-seeded The Cambridge School (18-9l, 3-0, in the semifinals and sixth-seeded Maranatha Christian (26-6), 3-1, in the championship round (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15).
The championship game was played May 16 at Mira Mesa High School. It marked the first time that both finalists had reached the championship round.
Mater Dei Catholic concluded league play with a 7-1 record to finish in a co-championship with Sweetwater, which also finished 7-1 in league play. Montgomery (4-4 in league), Mar Vista and Hilltop filled out the league standings.
Key players this season include senior setter Aaron Wood, senior outside hitter Oskar Manguy-Meza, senior outside hitter Liam Kingston and senior libero Ethan Bundang.
Manguy-Meza and junior Adrian Trevino keyed the Crusaders with 102 kills each while Wood tallied 22 serving aces, 92 digs and 435 assists, leading the team in the latter category. Bundag collected a team-high 149 digs while tacking on 18 serving aces.
Kingston recorded 83 kills in 41 sets played while Trevino also logged 18 aces.
Livingston defeated Oakland, 3-1, in the NorCal regional championship game, winning by scores of 26-24, 25-22, 19-25, 25-20. Three players finished with 19 kills for Livingston: juniors Gurvir Singh, Navjot Sekhon and Bradley Kaji.
Singh leads the Wolves on the season with 542 kills in 129 sets while junior Udayveer Dhadda has 56 serving aces, Kaji has 86 blocks, Dhadda has 213 digs and junior Shabadjot Kaloya has 702 assists.
Quick hits
Sweetwater received the No. 4 seed in the Division III section playoffs but ended its season prematurely with a 28-12 record following a 3-2 loss to The Cambridge School in the quarterfinals.
Season leaders for the Red Devils included senior J Brown with 459 kills in 112 sets played and 66 serving aces, junior Sergio Salazar with 125 blocks and 986 assists and senior Kalvin Arcedera with 407 digs.
Montgomery also qualified for the Division III playoffs. The Aztecs (14-19 overall) received the No. 12 seed and lost, 3-1, to The Cambridge School in the first round.
Season leaders for Montgomery included senior Diego Sandoval with 195 kills in 64 sets played, sophomore Elonso Enriquez with 33 serving aces, senior Ryken Lusby with 271 digs and senior Jafer Vazquez with 307 assists.
Mar Vista (6-26 overall) and Hilltop (8-22) both did not qualify for postseason competition.
Season leaders for Mar Vista included freshman Holden Bell (75 kills), junior Val Soriano (21 aces), senior Daniel Garcia (121 digs) and sophomore Sean Mathews (106 assists).
Eastlake (20-14 overall) emerged as this year’s Metro-Mesa League champion with a 6-0 record ahead of challengers Bonita Vista, Otay Ranch and Olympian.
Season leaders for Eastlake, which received the No. 4 seed in the Division I playoffs, included junior Sean Fleming (481 kills, 75 aces, 234 digs and senior Samuel Almendarez (234 digs, 451 assists). Sophomore Mason Little and junior Simon Greer tied with 62 blocks.
The Titans lost their opening quarterfinal match to fifth-seeded Del Norte (21-19) in a five-set thriller, 3-2, by a score of 21-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 12-15.
Bonita Vista, the No. 9 seed in the Division I playoffs, upset No. 8 Sage Creek (16-21) in the opening round of the playoffs but ended its season with a 3-1 loss to top-seeded St. Augustine (21-12), the eventual division champion.
Otay Ranch, the No. 11 seed in the Division I playoffs, fell 3-1 to sixth-seeded Scripps Ranch (22-16) in the opening round. Season leaders for the Mustangs included senior Jnyneil Alivio with 227 kills, sophomore Royce Garcia with 39 serving aces and 506 assists, senior Zim Garcia with 44 blocks, senior Gavin Cosico with 301 digs and
Olympian (8-27 overall) finished at the bottom of the Metro-Mesa League standings and did not qualify for the CIF playoffs.
San Ysidro and Southwest co-captured this year’s Metro-Pacific League banner, each with 5-1 league records.
San Ysidro (24-10 overall), received the No. 2 seed in the Division V section playoffs and ran the table with three consecutive wins to claim the division title. The Cougars eliminated 10th-seeded Imperial (8-23) in a 3-0 sweep in the quarterfinals (25-17, 25-14, 25-14), then edged third-seeded Crawford (19-8), 3-2, in the semifinals (25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 19-25, 15-7) to draw top-seeded Monte Vista, the Grossmont Valley League champion in the division final.
San Ysidro bested the Monarchs (23-13), 3-1, in four fiercely fought sets to win the championship (27-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-19). Junior Gabriel Cariaga led the Cougars with 11 kills while junior Ryan Nance had 22 digs and senior Sebastian Castro had 38 assists. Sophomore Kenneth Roche contributed four serving aces and junior Jair Flores had seven blocks.
Season leaders for San Ysidro included Cariaga with 192 kills in 100 sets, Castro with 59 aces and 753 assists, Flores with 110 blocks and Nance with 510 digs.
Southwest received the No. 8 in the Division IV section playoffs but could not get past No. 9 El Capitan (22-14) in the opening round.
Chula Vista (2-4 in league, 12-24 overall) and Castle Park (0-6 in league, 3-15 overall) did not qualify for this year’s section playoffs.
Victory Christian Academy (19-15), the third-place finisher in the Summit League, was seeded 10th in the Division IV playoffs but shocked No. 7 Christian (19-13), 3-2, in five sets to advance to the quarterfinals. The Knights failed to advance further, however, following a 3-0 sweep against second-seeded High Tech high Mesa (16-13).
Season leaders for the Knights included senior Brad Chier (371 kills, 75 aces), junior Micah Gerdes (24 blocks), junior Stanmore Langford (356 digs) and senior Esteban Torres (823) assists).
CVLCC (13-11), the third-place finisher in the Patriot League, received the No. 5 seed in Division V-AA advanced to the championship game against third-seeded Tri-City Christian (15-12), falling in a 3-0 sweep. The Cobras defeated 12th-seeded Escondido Adventist Academy (2-15), 3-0, in the opening round and eliminated fourth-seeded Mountain Empire (10-8), 3-0, in the quarterfinals. CVLCC swept eighth-seeded St. Joseph Academy (13-12), 3-0, in the division semifinals (25-21, 25-14, 25-17).
High Tech HIgh Chula Vista (17-15), the second-place finisher in the Pioneer League, received the No. 5 seed in the Division V bracket and ended its season in a 3-0 sweep against fourth-seeded Central Union (21-14).
Season leaders for HTH-CV included junior King California (251 kills, 125 digs), junior Bryson Diestro (55 aces, 122 digs, 330 assists) and sophomore Thomas Gomez (23 blocks).
SAN DIEGO SECTION DIVISION CHAMPIONS
Open Division: Carlsbad Lancers
Division I: St. Augustine Saints
Division II: Clairemont Chieftains
Division III: Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders
Division IV: Fallbrook Warriors
Division V: San Ysidro Cougars
Division V-AA: Tri-City Christian Eagles
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