Valencia men's volleyball will advance to its first CIF Southern Section final since 2015 after the Vikings defeated the Polytechnic Panthers at home in the Division 4 semifinals on Saturday.
The Vikings (25-12) trailed briefly early in the first set, but then showed dominance over the Panthers (20-4), winning 25-20, 25-16, 25-21. I won.
“Honestly, I’m really happy,” Valencia senior Dane Ricks said. “Everyone on our team has worked hard to get here. We've worked so hard. We've been practicing really good every day. And we've just worked hard and And we want it more than any of these teams.”
The Vikings, seeking their first sectional title since 2008, will have to overcome a familiar opponent in the West Ranch Wildcats, who finished third in this year's Foothill League and won by a landslide in the semifinals. Valencia defeated West Ranch in both regular season meetings en route to the league championship.
“It's tough to beat a team three times, but we're going to do it,” Ricks said.
On Saturday, Valencia started the game trailing 4-0, but then took a 5-1 lead and evened things up early on. Valencia senior Jet Ricks had three of her team-high 18 kills during that period. Both teams battled back and forth throughout the remainder of the first set before the Vikings went on a 6-0 run to take the set.
Senior Jarek Pascua scored the winning point with a sinking line drive from the back row to the back right corner. He said the Vikings were re-energized at the beginning of the postseason and have been on a roll thus far.
“Going into the CIF playoffs, we brought a new energy to the team, and I feel like that helped us in a lot of games, especially in Game 2 against Laguna Blanca,” Pascua said. “But so far, we're doing the same thing we've been doing all season.”
The good times continued for Valencia, who started the second set with a 5-0 run. The Panthers had small runs here and there throughout the rest of the game, but it wasn't enough to hinder the Vikings' advance.
Valencia head coach Brendan Reilly said he felt the team's experience was a big part of the Vikings' advantage. Many of Valencia's key players are juniors and seniors, but Poli also had several sophomores and even a few freshmen on the roster.
“That team is a young team, but it’s a much better team than I expected,” Riley said. “They haven't played against very good teams this year, but they had good serve and serve-receive. We haven't really struggled this much with serve-receive this year, so credit to them.”
The Vikings received donations from nearly everyone who played. Dane Ricks was second to his brother in kills with 10, three aces and three blocks. Pascua had eight kills and, along with libero Nathan Willis, played throughout the back line to keep the Vikings alive.
Willis finished with a team-high 10 digs, and six Vikings had at least one kill. Setter Leo Santonkum had a team-high 33 assists.
“There are no holes in our team at all. I also trust everyone on the bench,” Pascua said. “We don't have any holes. Practice is usually harder than games. I feel a lot of credit goes to our practice squad. Our practice squad doesn't get as much credit as our starters. yeah.”
The Vikings and Wildcats are scheduled to face off this coming Saturday at a location and time to be determined for the sectional crown.