CIF Volleyball Roundup: Poly falls in five sets to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame

A confident and more energized Long Beach Poly boys volleyball team came to play in the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs, but it wasn’t enough on Thursday night at home. After an upset win on the road in the opening round, the Jackrabbits (10-8) gave Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (27-7-1) all it could handle, but were outlasted as the Knights won a 25-21, 18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-11 thriller.

“I’m super proud of these kids because they broke expectations this year,” Poly head coach Justin Oleole said. “They didn’t think they would go as far as they did, but they did it with heart.”

A few unforced errors and missed serves by the Jackrabbits in the fourth and fifth sets got Notre Dame back into the match. The Knights utilized their talent and depth at the middle position and went on an 8-3 run to close out the match in the fifth set.

Poly senior Sam Lewis had an enormous night for the Jackrabbits, as he was counted on to take important swings throughout the match. The USC signee finished with 31 kills, three blocks, and two aces and kept Poly in the fifth set after Notre Dame took an early 5-2 lead.

Senior Dane Sturges-Anderson had 12 kills and two aces for the Jackrabbits, while Jacob Lemmon added seven kills and two blocks. Setter Justin Tem paced the Poly attack with 47 assists.

“Our energy and passing was great, but we didn’t take advantage of the errors that (Notre Dame) gave us. We gave it right back to them,” Lewis said.

Notre Dame setter Christopher Hall spread the ball all over the court with 44 assists as six different Knights recorded a kill. Hall added a kill, three blocks and two aces. Brendon Dunn led Notre Dame with 18 kills and three blocks.

Notre Dame advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday.

—Paul Slater

DOWNEY 3, ST. ANTHONY 0 >> It was a near-perfect night for the Vikings (17-10) in a sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-19) on the road at St. Anthony (19-7) in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 4 Playoffs.

“That might have been the three best sets that we have played all year long,” Downey coach Bob McCarthy said. “Tonight was the first breakthrough night for us as far as us being able to maintain a really high level and keep our performance at a high level.”

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The first set was back and forth between the Saints and the Vikings, but led by junior Matt Brito and senior Sam Carcamo, Downey was able to pull away.

The Vikings jumped out to a 13-1 lead in the second set and went up 2-0 before a highly compettive third set ended with joy for the Vikings as they realized their season will continue.

“We did take a look at them ahead of time and we knew they had a couple of really strong players, but they also had a couple of gaps,” McCarthy said. “We passed the ball well enough so we were able to run the middle, and that was the difference.”

Brito had 15 kills and Carcamo added 13 while junior Malik Makhlouf had 39 assists.

“Everybody on our side of the net played well at the same time,” McCarthy said.

The Vikings will play the winner of Santa Ana Valley/La Quinta match on Saturday, while the Saints end their season a little earlier than they had hoped but still as Camimo Real League Champions.

—Julian Lopez

WILSON 3, EL TORO 1 >> The Bruins (21-6) won 25-17, 15-25, 25-21, 25-20 and will face South Torrance on Saturday.

RIVERSIDE POLY 3, AVALON 0 >> The Lancers’ (11-9) season ended in the Division 5 playoffs.

LAGUNA HILLS 3, VALLEY CHRISTIAN 2 >> The Crusaders (21-5) fell 25-23, 30-28, 24-26, 22-25, 10-15 in the Division 2 playoffs.