The Cypress High boys volleyball team has made an impressive run to the CIF-SS semifinals. The Centurions have won three matches in four days, dropping just one set along the way.
The Centurions swept Santa Ynez on the road on Saturday, 25-19-25-16, 25-12, in a quarterfinal match. Prior to that, the Centurions had home matches, defeating St. Margaret’s, 25-10, 25-19, 25-21, and they topped Citrus Valley in the opening round, 25-18, 23-25, 25-11, 25-7.
The season has been a remarkable turnaround from a year ago when the Centurions won just four league matches and missed the playoffs. This year, the Centurions won the Empire League title at 10-0 and have won their first three playoff matches in decisive manner.
First-year coach Alex Griffiths said that the team was likely battling first round nerves when they dropped their only set in the first round against Citrus Valley.
After letting the second set get away from them, the Centurions regained their composure in the third set. They jumped out to a 4-1 lead, before Citrus Valley closed the gap to 4-3. But from there, the Centurions took control.
Cypress went on a 7-1 run. Kyle Farmer had a cross-court kill that pushed the lead to 7-4. Later, Erik Papke put down a kill with a one-timer on an overpass by the Blackhawks that gave the Centurions a 9-4 lead.
Leading 17-10, the Centurions went on a 4-0 run. Kyle Farmer had an ace serve that gave them a 19-10 lead and Papke finished a long rally with a kill that extended the lead to 20-10. Chris Cons then had a tap shot to the middle that pushed the lead to 21-10.
Cypress would eventually close out the set and then have little trouble ending the match in four sets. They jumped out to a 10-3 lead and close out the match with a 10-0 run, after leading 15-7. The Centurions played their semifinal match on Wednesday, May 18, at 7 p.m. at Saddleback Valley Christian High in San Juan Capistrano. The Centurions fell in three sets with set scores: 11-25, 16-25, 15-25.* A win would’ve put them in the finals on Saturday at Cerritos College.
*Set scores courtesy of maxpreps.com
