Boys volleyball playoffs get underway for 12 South County teams

Twelve South County high school boys volleyball teams earned their share of respect by earning berths in this year’s San Diego Section playoffs. Now which ones will contend for division championships?

The road to division titles in five divisions started Tuesday and will culminate for teams in Division III and Division IV on May 22 at Canyon Crest Academy and for teams in three more divisions — Open Division, Division I and Division II – on May 23 at Cathedral Catholic High School.

Four Metro Conference teams received first-round byes, meaning they will open the playoffs in Friday and Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Two more teams – Otay Ranch and Eastlake — received invitations to the elite eight Open Division and open postseason play in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Open Division

The Otay Ranch Mustangs defeated visiting Eastlake Titans in a five-game thriller last Friday to nail down this year’s Metro-Mesa League championship. Both teams proved themselves among the section’s elite squads this season and received berths in the eight-team Open Division playoffs.

Otay Ranch (30-8) received the No. 6 seed and will open quarterfinal-round play on Saturday, May 16, against the third-seeded Mt. Carmel Sundevils. The Mustangs will host the 3 p.m. match as a league champion.

Eastlake (16-10) received the No. 7 seed and will open quarterfinal-round play, also on Saturday, May 16, at second-seeded La Jolla. Match time is also 5 p.m.

In other Open Division quarterfinals on Saturday, top-seeded Torrey Pines will host eight-seeded Francis Parker while fourth-seeded Cathedral Catholic will host fifth-seeded Scripps Ranch.

Quarterfinal-round survivors advance to the division semifinals on May 20. The championship game is scheduled May 23 at 5 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic High School.

Ahsan Murtaza leads Otay Ranch with 210 kills, followed by teamamtes Efrain Sharkey with 196 kills and Eddie Rosenfeld with 190 kills. Sharkey leads the Mustangs with 40 aces while Rosenfeld leads the team with 49 total blocks, Josh Kritsanjootha leads the team with 335 digs and Derek Gascon leads the team with 675 assists.

Division II

Four Metro teams received berths in the division. Bonita Vista, the fourth-place in the Metro-Mesa League, received the No. 3 seed while Metro-Pacific League co-champion Hilltop received the No. 4 seed.

Bonita Vista will host sixth-seeded Valley Center (16-14) on Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m.

Hilltop (21-8) will host fifth-seeded Granite Hills (16-11) on Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m.

Olympian (seventh seed) and Montgomery (ninth seed) also qualified for the Division II playoffs.

Olympian, which finished third in the Metro-Mesa League, hosted 10th-seeded Santa Fe Christian on Tuesday. The Eagles (15-13) dropped a 3-0 decision as Santa Fe Christian advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals at second-seeded Valhalla.

Metro-South Bay League champion Montgomery opened playoff competition on Tuesday at eighth-seeded Patrick Henry. The Aztecs (22-13) earned a great deal of respect by defeating the host Patriots in three games to advance to play at top-seeded El Camino in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Christian Sotto led Montgomery with 19 kills.

Cameron Short is Bonita Vista’s kill leader with 156 while Austin Hermida is the team’s digs leader with 114 and Joseph Guillen-Parast leads the team with 348 assists.

Hilltop is led offensively by Ryan Wessel with 303 kills and Luis Hernandez with 239 kills. Joseph Valadez leads the team with 65 serving aces while Ricky Zamudio has racked up 56 total blocks. Roman Vazquez leads Hilltop with 323 digs while Valadez is the assist leader with 629.

The division semifinals are scheduled Tuesday, May 19, followed by the championship game May 23 at Cathedral Catholic High School.

Division III

Three Metro teams qualified for the Division III playoffs.

Chula Vista received the No. 2 seed and will host either seventh-seeded San Diego Academy or 10th-seeded San Diego on Saturday, May 16, at 5 p.m.

Sweetwater, the fourth-place finisher in the Metro-Pacific League, received the No. 9 seed in the division and opens the playoffs Wednesday with a first-round match-up at eighth-seeded San Dieguito Academy.

Mater Dei Catholic, the fifth-place finisher in the Metro-Mesa League, received the No. 12 seed in the division and opens postseason play Wednesday with a first-round encounter at fifth-seeded Escondido Charter.

Both Metro teams suffered 3-0 sweeps at the hands of their higher-seeded hosts.

Top-seeded Helix will host SDA in Saturday’s quarterfinals while fourth-seeded Point Loma will host Escondido Charter.

The division semifinals are scheduled May 20 with the championship game set May 22 at 7 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy.

 

Division IV

Despite finishing 2-4 in Metro-Pacific League play, Castle Park (11-7) received the No. 1 playoff seed among the section’s Division IV teams. The Trojans will host ninth-seeded El Capitan (8-5) in Friday’s quarterfinals at 5 p.m.

The playoffs should be interesting – and unpredictable — as Castle Park has faced only one of the 12 teams in the division. The Trojans aced sixth-seeded Clairemont 25-18, 25-20 in the opening match of the season.

A total of three South County teams qualified for divisional play.

The Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (9-2) received the No. 5 seed and plays host to 12th-seeded Chula Vista High Tech in Wednesday’s opening round.

The CVLCC Cobras advance to meet fourth-seeded Del Lago Academy in Saturday’s quarterfinals after toppling the Bruins 3-1 in games.

Pacific Ridge received the No. 2 seed in the division while Lincoln received the No. 3 seed.

Semifinals are scheduled May 20, with the championship game set May 22 at 5 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy.

San Diego Section Playoff Scoreboard
Division II
First round
Tuesday, May 12

(9) Montgomery defeated (8) Patrick Henry 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
(10) Santa Fe Christian defeated (7) Olympian 3-0, advances to quarterfinals

Division III
First round
Wednesday, May 13

(8) San Dieguito Academy defeated (9) Sweetwater 3-0, advances to quarterfinals
(5) Escondido Charter defeated (12) Mater Dei Catholic 3-0, advances to quarterfinals

Division IV
First round
Wednesday, May 13

(5) Chula Vista Learning Community Center defeated (12) Chula Vista High Tech 3-1, advances to quarterfinals