Valley Christian's boys volleyball comes from behind to win CIF title

NORWALK >> Having recorded 24 sweeps on the season, Valley Christian High’s boys volleyball team hasn’t had to play from behind much at all. So when it fell back two sets to one and trailed 8-3 early in the fourth during Saturday afteoon’s CIF Southe Section Division 3 championship match at Cerritos College, there were a lot of adjustments to be made and not much time to make them.

The Crusaders (27-2) never appeared rattled, however, riding the hot hands of junior Miller Davis and senior Spencer Fredrick to a 19-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 15-12 victory over Cathedral and its first title since 2011.

The team used five separate three-point spurts to catch up and eventually win the pivotal fourth set. Davis recorded nine of his team-high 21 kills in the frame.

Valley carried the momentum right into the decisive set, taking a quick 5-1 advantage before the Phantoms (30-7) absorbed the blow and responded to take respective leads of 7-6, 10-9 and 11-10. The Crusaders again had to regroup and did so by recording five of the next six points, including back-to-back Davis kills and a championship-clinching solo block by Fredrick.

The match featured 31 ties and 13 lead changes, including seven and four, respectively, in the fifth set alone.

“I’m so happy we pulled that out,” Davis said. “It’s a dream honestly, a dream come true. It really shows that we were a solid team because we got together, played as whole team and pulled it out.”

He finished with a match-high 19 digs, three total blocks and and ace to go with all the kills. Fredrick, who tallied 16 kills, nine digs and six total blocks, said he never thought the team was out of it, even with its back against the wall.

“It’s phenomenal, just amazing” he said. “Just to put it all on the line, especially in game five was the difference I think, to just put it all out there. Coach (Jason Kwak) really put it in us to never give up, so being down 2-1 wasn’t that bad. I thought we could still pull it off and we did as a team, so I’m really proud of my team right now.”

With the title match being just the team’s second five-setter of the season, Kwak wanted his players to find a way to shake off the nerves, especially against a potent Cathedral program he has a lot of respect for.

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“Cathedral is one of the schools we wanted to avoid, we wanted to see them in the finals because we knew that they are a good team,” he said. “We just needed a lot of energy and hype behind us to get through. Those last two sets, we started off very jittery. We really needed to find ourselves and I told them ‘For the seniors, this is it, there’s no going back.’ And they just dug in, went back to the game plan and we pulled it out.”

Matthew Romero anchored the Phantoms with a match-high 22 kills and 12 digs, while Abraham Romero added 14 and 13 and Joseph Ypil-Campara notched 12 kills.

When characterizing his team and the season it had, Kwak reiterated the idea of togetheess.

“We’ve built such an incredible bond over the last year,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been working on the whole year, teamwork and chemistry. The skill sets were there, we just needed the guys to really bond together and make sure that we only fight one war. That’s the pressure from the other team and not have any inteal conflict because we don’t want to be caught in the middle. It’s just teamwork.”