Saugus Centurions boys’ volleyball has fully embraced the role of being a five-set team.
The Centurions took down the visiting Canyon Cowboys in a marathon match on Thursday.
Saugus won the Foothill League battle, 17-25, 25-23, 26-28, 25-21, 15-11, in the team’s sixth five-set match of the season.
“I think they have really embraced (being a five-set team),” said Saugus coach Kaitlyn McGinley. “They’re definitely ready for it because of their conditioning at practice. I tell them all the time, ‘You’re built you up for this.’ They just like to compete.”
Canyon’s offense fired on all cylinders in the first set, which included a Cowboy 8-0 run, forcing Saugus (10-8, 5-2) to adjust on the net. The Centurions slowed down the Cowboys’ pin hitters thanks to stellar team blocking led by middle blocker Landon Cookston.
Cookston led the team with 16 kills and five blocks, and made a ton of contact on Canyon’s big swings.
“First I watch the ball, then I watch the setter,” Cookston said on his blocking approach. “The setter usually gives tells. Then you just go up and you set your hands over the net and stuff them. I love blocking so I make sure I do a good job at it.”
Cookston caught fire in the second set, where he added six kills, matching Canyon opposite hitter Landon Gibson’s total in the first set.
Gibson led the Cowboys (14-5, 4-3) with 15 kills and a pair of blocks.
Canyon’s block caught fire in the third set as five different Cowboys stuffed Saugus’ swings.
Saugus trailed 22-16 in the third set before an 8-0 run of their own with Caden Phillips serving at the end line. Phillips added three aces in the run, capitalizing on Canyon’s shallow serve receive.
“(Caden) is one of our top servers, he is really good,” McGinley said. “He knows which spots to hit at specific times and I can always count on him to hit that spot every time. So, when he went back there, I don’t think I was nervous at all.”
The run was ended by a kill from Canyon outside hitter Jayden Hayes before the team went past 25 points.
The Centurions nearly stole the set after a hitting error from Canyon. However, the referees caught Saugus on a net violation before the ball flew out of bounds. The teams exchanged points before Canyon middle blocker Gunner Evans ended the set with the team’s fifth block of the set.
Saugus saw its offense slow down in the fourth but still found ways to steal the set that saw several tied scores.
The Centurions rode another big serving run, this time by defensive specialist Ayden Asis, who delivered three aces to help his team reach match point. Saugus outside hitter Sean Tran did the rest with his first kill of the set, which forced the decisive fifth.
Tran played well all-around for Saugus, registering a double-double with his 12 digs and dozen kills. Max Guardado also added 12 kills and two blocks in the win.
“Our front row is pretty big, so blocking is definitely a big emphasis,” Cookston said. “(Blocking’s) just pure hype. It gets the team going when they have a big hitter on the other side and you just shut them down. Everybody goes crazy.”
Cookston rallied the offense with three kills in the fifth set and hit the open floor well against a gassed Canyon team. Errors became the death of the Cowboys, who now evened the series with Saugus after previously sweeping the Centurions in the first round of league.
“The first round, I feel like we played so scared and we played to not lose,” McGinley said. “So I think that was a huge difference tonight. They just played at ease and I just said, ‘Go out there have fun, play hard and play what you know to do like this is our house.”
Saugus also battled the illness bug on Thursday but now has the weekend off to soak in the win and recover.
“A lot of them are sick right now, so I told them, ‘Just give me all you’ve got tonight and I promise you, it will be worth it. You’ll get to rest after, and tomorrow, but it’s one night right now,’” McGinley said. “I think they really dug deep and leaned on each other.”
Canyon came into the game as winner of four of its previous five matches but the Saugus win puts the Centurions now in that same boat.
“This was definitely a confidence booster and a good way to start the second half of league, but we have our goals where we go one game at a time,” Cookston said. “So even though we won, we have to come back and start at zero because we have a game next Tuesday. So we gotta rest and prepare.”
Canyon will have some tournament action over the weekend before returning to league play on Tuesday at West Ranch. Saugus also heads back into Foothill League action on Tuesday back home against Valencia. Both games are slated for 5:30 p.m.
“There’s a lot of work still left and every game is a competition and maybe a five setter,” McGinley said. “Huge week next week for us, so I think this is a confidence booster but they need to remember it’s game by game. Anything can happen in this league because we’re all the same. We’re all itching for that top three or top spot.”
