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Sage Hill players, including Jackson Cryst (middle) celebrate match point after Saturday’s semifinal match vs. Crean Lutheran. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shuttebugs, John Luciano).
Sage Hill High School’s boys volleyball team is headed back to the CIF finals.
The Lightning defeated Crean Lutheran 25-21, 26-24, 25-18 in the CIF Division 4 semifinals Saturday night at Sage Hill to move into next weekend’s finals against Santa Barbara. The location and day will be announced next week.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Sage Hill captured the CIF Division 5 crown last year. Crean Lutheran was appearing in the semifinals for the first time since 2017 and trying for a chance at the program’s first CIF title.
“It was a really good win, I’m super thankful that everybody just came out firing, we played as one unit and I think that was really crucial especially with how many people they brought, it was an incredible team win and a great win going into a good hard week of practice for the finals,” said Sage Hill senior Jackson Cryst who led the Lightning with 20 kills and four aces.
After winning the title last year led by Cryst, Sage Hill started this season 0-5 with a new coach and without Cryst, a 6-10 outside hitter, who was finishing up his time with the school’s boys basketball team which reached the CIF finals.
“What I would really attribute it to was us finding a rhythm as a team and playing as one unit,” said Cryst, who is headed to Long Beach State next year to play volleyball. “Now, instead of looking to the ground when you make an error or are struggling, we’re looking to each other and I think that’s a huge contributor to our success.”
Sage Hill (18-11) also got strong efforts from Ryan Manesh, who had 13 kills and Dylan Han and Connor Gapp, who had four kills each.
“Hats off to the athletic department, the coaches and players, just understanding that this is the first year and guys have to buy into the system,” said Sage Hill’s first year coach Jordan Hoppe. “We have guys coming in later in the season and pre-season, I even got the job later so I didn’t have a lot of time with the guys to really develop and form the culture, it’s going good and only getting better.”
In the first set, Sage Hill jumped out to a 18-9 lead before Crean Lutheran (16-13) cut the lead to 23-20. However, the Lightning were able to regroup, winning 25-21 on a kill by Cryst.
The second set was similar with Sage Hill taking a 7-2 lead and forcing a timeout by Crean Lutheran. Crean Lutheran again battled back tying the match 14-14 on a point by Josh Goldstone. The Saints then moved ahead 21-20 on a kill by Micah Yee much to the delight of a large contingent of Crean Lutheran fans.
Both teams gave up points on service errors and Sage Hill went ahead 25-24 before winning on a kill by Jon Ye.
Sage Hill moved out to a 13-9 lead in set three on consecutive kills by Cryst before finishing with a win and celebrating with its fan.
“I think the boys played really well,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Justin Elder. “Sage Hill came out and they were on fire from the very beginning and they took the momentum early, they had a big outside hitter (Cryst) who was great for their team. He played great, but I got to give it to my boys, they fought hard and they worked together and they overcame some obstacles, we just came up a little short.
“If we could have tied the score (in the second set), I think we would have helped out our attitudes a little bit, we would have felt a little more confident and I think dropping that second set after having set point was tough to overcome.”
The coach said that senior Logan Erickson, who is commmited to Belmont Abbey College to play volleyball, “really rose to the occasion, I thought he played great, especially in the front row, challenging big big blocks, taking big swings and carrying our team on offense.
“Micah Yee, our other outside hitter, was also taking really bold swings and was really effective, he was finding the wholes in the block, he was finding the open court and on the defensive side, I think our libero Ethan Lai was also leading us in serve-receive touching a lot of balls on defense and making sure the ball didn’t drop, he’s been our leader for the last four years he’s been on varsity and he had a great match today.”
Cryst, the Lightning leader, also credited setters Connor Gapp and Jon Ye.
“Our setters had an incredible game, they put the ball in the perfect spot, I couldn’t do it without them, that’s the beautiful thing about volleyball,” Cryst said. “It’s a great team sport and I just think everybody contributed and filled their role. Both were having a great night running and incredible offense.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com