Gahr picks up big nonleague boys volleyball win at Bellflower

BELLFLOWER >> A pair of boys volleyball champions clashed Wednesday afteoon at Bellflower High School with San Gabriel Valley League champion Gahr flashing its strength in a 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 sweep of the Suburban League-best Buccaneers. In the regular-season finale for both sides, the Gladiators (20-6) were clearly dialed-in from the onset, limiting their mistakes and rattling off a number of three-point runs to continuously expand the advantage in set one.

From there, the Bucs (16-8) had to play from behind the rest of the way and were never quite able to sustain a run long enough to claim a set and draw any closer in the match.

Zachary Ayala and Jared Veola combined for 23 kills despite the match going just three sets and Justin Garrett had four in the opening set. The trio hit extremely hard and precise throughout the contest. Ayala had 12 kills and Veola 11.

Senior outside hitter Edgar Sanchez paced the Bucs with eight kills, Aaron Imaysay had five and Marlon Valencia three and had an ace.

Gahr coach Iris Najera credited both teams for their quality of play and noted that the opportunity to face a fellow league champion on the road heading into the postseason was important for her squad.

“I saw lots of good volleyball on both sides,” she said. “Bellflower always plays really hard until the end and they’re very athletic. I liked how my guys executed and they have a lot of fun playing together.

“We’re so fortunate that we were able to schedule this match. It’s really good competition to get us ready for playoffs and it’s a good opportunity for us to practice passing the jump serve because Bellflower has excellent serving over there and there’s not a lot of teams in our league that has as many tough serves. So it’s really good for us.”

Both team will lea their first round opponent when CIF Southe Section playoff pairings are released Friday at 2 p.m. Gahr competes in Division 3 and Bellflower is in Division 4.

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