The San Diego Section boys volleyball playoffs are in full swing and ready to crown divisional champions this weekend.
A hefty nine East County teams entered the seven-division tournament — from Open Division to Division V-AA — and two were still hanging around for this week’s semifinal-round.
Top-seeded Monte Vista (22-12) was scheduled to host fourth-seeded Central Union (21-13) in Tuesday’s Division V semifinals while sixth-seeded West Hills (16-16) hoped to continue its upset march through the Division IV bracket with a win Wednesday at second-seeded High Tech High Mesa (15-12).
The Monte Vista-Central Union winner was slated to pair up against either No. 2 San Ysidro (22-10) or No. 3 Crawford (19-7) in the Division V championship game Thursday at MiraCosta College. San Ysidro entered the playoffs as the Metro-Pacific League co-champion while Central Union stood as the No. 2 team (to Calexico) in the Imperial Valley League standings.
The West Hills-High Tech Mesa winner will meet top-seeded San Pasqual (23-7) or fourth-seeded Fallbrook (23-14) in Saturday’s Division IV championship game at The Francis Parker School at 11 a.m. San Pasqual is the Valley League champion while Fallbrook finished as the league runner-up.
It’s been a solid showing for East County teams in the playoffs.
Eight of the nine qualified teams advanced as far as the quarterfinal round: El Cajon Valley (No. 1 in Division II), Foothills Christian (No. 3 in Division III), Santana (No. 11 in Division III), West Hills (No. 6 in Division IV), Christian (No. 7 in Division IV), El Capitan (No. 9 in Division IV), Monte Vista (No. 1 in Division V) and Mountain Empire (No. 4 in Division V-AA).
Granite Hills (25-12) received the No. 8 seed in the Open Division but dropped matchups against No. 1 Carlsbad (33-2) and No. 5 Bishop’s (25-10) in the double-elimination format. The Eagles lost 3-0 to the top-seeded Lancers (22-25, 21-25, 20-25) and came up short 3-1 against the Knights (25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 16-25) in highly competitive pairings.
Monte Vista brushed aside No. 8 Valley Center (11-21) in the division quarterfinals, 3-0, after receiving a first-round bye. The Monarchs entered Tuesday’s semifinal riding a five-game winning streak.
Sixth-seeded West Hills and seventh-seeded El Capitan (22-14) both captured opening round matchups to advance to the Division IV quarterfinals. West Hills eliminated 11th-seeded Kearny (7-21) while El Capitan toppled eighth-seeded/Metro-Pacific League co-champion Southwest San Diego (18-12).
El Capitan lost, 3-1, at top-seeded San Pasqual but West Hills advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal with a 3-1 upset win over third-seeded Lincoln (18-10.
Seniors Jacob Marquez and Nicholas Patterson led El Capitan with 20 and 19 kills, respectively, in the win over Southwest while senior Obed Lopez had 34 digs and sophomore Neil Perkins tacked on 20 assists. Marquez also chipped in with 18 assists in the 25-22, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18 win.
Christian (19-13) succumbed 25-15, 22-25, 23-25, 25-20, 6-15 in a five-set matchup against 10th-seeded Victory Christian Academy (19-15) despite 15 kills from junior Gavin Cameron, two serving aces and 20 assists from junior Brody Schendel and 24 digs from senior McKade Mathison.
El Cajon Valley, Foothills Christian and Mountain Empire all received byes to the quarterfinals.
El Cajon Valley (29-8) opened against eighth-seeded Coronado with consecutive victories (25-22, 25-21) before dropping three straight (16-25, 16-25, 12-15) to fall upset victim in major fashion.
Foothills Christian (16-15) lost 3-1 to sixth-seeded Maranatha Christian (25-5) while Mountain Empire (10-8) was swept 3-0 by fifth-seeded Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (12-10).
Maranatha Christian eliminated Santana (9-15) with a 3-0 sweep in the Division III opening round (16-25, 15-25, 11-25).
Two finals are scheduled Friday at Mira Mesa High School (Division III at 5 p.m. and Division I at 7:30 p.m.) while three finals are slated Saturday at The Francis Parker School (Division IV at 11 a.m., Division II at 1:30 p.m., Open Division at 4 p.m.). The Division V and Division V-AA finals were scheduled Thursday at MiraCosta College.
Granite Hills (7-1 in league) and El Cajon Valley (6-2 in league) finished one-two in the Grossmont Hills League standings, followed by Helix (4-4 in league), Santana (3-5 in league) and Grossmont (0-8 in league).
Monte Vista (8-2 in league) finished with a one-game edge for El Capitan (7-3 in league) to capture this year’s Grossmont Valley League title, followed by Valhalla (6-4 in league), West Hills (6-4 in league), Steele Canyon (3-7 in league) and Mt. Miguel (0-10 in league).
Christian (6-2 in league) finished second in the City Central League standings to Lincoln (7-1 in league).
Sticks up
The Grossmont Conference made a big impact in the boys lacrosse playoff by advancing three teams to the San Diego Section semifinal playoff round. Additionally, four of six qualified girls teams made it to the quarterfinals.
Championship games are this weekend at Westview High School (boys teams) and San Dieguito Academy (girls teams).
Fifth-seeded Granite Hills upended fourth-seeded Del Norte, 7-5, in Saturday’s Division I boys quarterfinals while third-seeded Helix Charter slipped past sixth-seeded Mt. Carmel, 11-7, in a Division II matchup last Friday. Second-seeded Valhalla reserved a berth in the Division III semis with last Friday’s 10-8 quarterfinal victory against seventh-seeded Del Lago Academy.
Granite Hills (14-5) was set to tangle with top-seeded Carlsbad (12-8) in Tuesday’s semifinals, with the winner advancing to Friday’s Division I championship tilt at 7 p.m. against either No. 2 St. Augustine (11-6-1) or No. 3 San Marcos (11-8).
Helix (15-3) was slated to meet second-seeded San Dieguito Academy (16-3) in Wednesday’s Division II semifinals, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship game at 2 p.m. against either No. 1 Westview (11-6) or No. 4 Patrick Henry (5-15).
Valhalla (13-4) was scheduled to face third-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (13-5) in Tuesday’s Division III semifinal, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s division final at 11 a.m. against either top-seeded Classical Academy (16-3) or fifth-seeded Clairemont (12-5).
Granite Hills tipped off this year’s playoff run with a commanding 14-2 win over 12th-seeded Scripps Ranch (0-9) in an opening-round matchup on May 7.
The win paired the Eagles against Del Norte (13-3) in the quarterfinals. The game was tied, 4-4, before the East County visitors reeled off three unanswered goals to take a 7-4 lead. Tristan Diaz had three goals and Logan Vance and Cayden Phillips each had two goals in support of goalkeeper Julian Boetjer (nine saves).
“Our defense played lights out,” GHHS coach Henry Diaz said. “They were flying around and communicated. This is a big win for us. When we shut down their offense, our goalie communicated well to our team. That is how you win games.”
David Willauer contributed to this report.
