The San Diego Section boys volleyball and boys and girls lacrosse championships wrapped up over the weekend with divisional championship games.
El Cajon’s Christian High School represented East County as this year’s Division IV champion in boys volleyball while Valhalla captured the Division III boys lacrosse title.
It marked the first-ever CIF championships in the sport for the respective schools.
The boys volleyball playoff bracket featured seven divisions (Open through Division V-AA) while the lacrosse brackets featured four divisions in both gender fields.
Christian, seeded third among the 12 playoff teams in its division, toppled top-seeded Tri-City Christian in five games, 3-2, by scores of 25-18, 25-21, 15-25, 22-25, 16-14.
Top-seeded Valhalla defeated third-seeded Clairemont, 6-5, to claim its history-making banner.
Additionally, top-seeded Granite Hills (17-4) made a return to the Division I boys lacrosse final but finished runner-up by an 11-6 score to second-seeded Santa Fe Christian (8-11).
Spike it
Christian (26-7) opened its playoff run with a 3-2 win over sixth-seeded Canyon Hills in the quarterfinals on May 7 by scores of 18-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8. The Patriots then swept second-seeded San Ysidro, 3-0, in the semifinals on May 12 by scores of 25-18, 26-24, 25-19.
The Division IV final took place May 14 at Logan Memorial High School against a Tri-City team that had eliminated eighth-seeded La Jolla Country Day in the quarterfinals and fourth-seeded Oceanside in the semifinals.
The Eagles (23-5) were moving up after winning last year’s Division V-AA championship.
But clutch play from the Patriots prevented a CIF repeat.
“Our roster this year was five seniors, three juniors, including a Swedish exchange student, one sophomore and four freshmen,” Christian head coach Levi Gundert, who helped his alma mater post runner-up finishes in the CIF Division III finals in 1997 and 1998 as a player.
“We wrote our team goals down on a white board in February. Among a larger list of goals, the team decided they wanted to go undefeated in league, win CIF and maintain a 3.5 (or better) team GPA.
“What followed was a remarkable performance in which this team went 10-0 in league, even with injuries and illnesses, and then won CIF on Thursday night (May 14), which was the first boys volleyball CIF championship in school history. Last week the boys added ‘win state’ to the goal list.”
The Patriots received the No. 1 seed in the Division IV Southern California regional playoffs, hosting Los Angeles Franklin (9-16) in Tuesday’s opening round. The state championship game is May 30 in Fresno.
“Regardless of how we finish in state (the seniors may still be playing matches following their graduation on Friday night), I am incredibly proud of this team,” Gundert said. “I’ve coached talented teams before — girls and boys — but the chemistry on this team is the differentiator. It’s the reason for their success. They encourage each other and find a way to succeed even when they’re down.”
The 2026 edition of the CHS team stressed versatility.
Entering the playoffs, junior outside hitter Noah Mallory had amassed 299 kills and 287 digs in 76 sets played while senior setter Brody Schendel had logged 65 aces and 629 assists in 88 sets.
Key performers in the championship game included senior middle blocker Hudson McFarlane, junior David Griffin, senior libero Jack McGinnis and Schendel.
The Patriots trailed 16-15 in the second game while staring at a potential 0-2 start before catching fire with an 8-2 run to record a two-point victory and even the best-of-five series at a game apiece.
Christian’s defense came up big on the evening with 10 blocks.
Schendel earned honors as the City Conference Central League Player of the Year while McFarlane and Mallory both received First team honors and senior opposite hitter Gavin Cameron and McGinnis both were accorded Second Team honors.
Orange Nation
Top-seeded Valhalla (14-7) rolled through the opening two rounds of this year’s playoff field with wins over eighth-seeded Sage Creek (19-2 in the quarter finals) and fourth-seeded Olympian (10-4 in the semifinals).
The Norsemen built a 6-1 halftime lead in the championship game against Clairemont and held on to win after defusing a late four-goal rally by the Chieftains (18-2).
Attackman Ben Aldridge led VHS with two goals and two assists while Gabe Kalasho recorded 12 goalkeeper saves.
Cayden Phillips scored three goals and Tristan Diaz added two more for Granite Hills in the team’s return to the Division I final but it wasn’t enough.
