After a slow start, Valencia Vikings boys’ volleyball slowly picked up more and more momentum.
Valencia dropped its opening set to the hosting West Ranch Wildcats but powered ahead in the next three sets, as the Vikings stole a victory on the road.
The Vikings won the match 17-22, 25-23, 25-23, 25-14.
The final set belonged to Valencia (8-6, 3-1) and outside hitter Jarek Pascua, who hammered down seven of his game-high 16 kills in the fourth set, including back-to-back kills for the final two points of the match.
Pascua, a three-year varsity player, seemingly improved in every set, which was no surprise to Valencia first-year head coach Brendan Riley.
“Jarek is a very experienced player,” Riley said. “He’s one of the most intelligent volleyball players I’ve ever coached. He understands the game very, very well. He’ll be a good coach someday.”
Valencia charged through the fourth set with heads full of steam as the team slammed down seven kills and an ace in its first nine points alone.
West Ranch made some solid plays but just couldn’t cool off its visiting league rival.
The Vikings didn’t have a one-man show or any huge performances. The squad hit, passed and blocked well to secure the victory.
Riley knew slowing down West Ranch junior Noah Douphner would be key to give the Vikings any shot at winning.
“(Douphner) is capable of beating any team by himself,” Riley said. “So, the strategy was to try to keep them out of system with our serve, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, and then try as hard as we can to keep the ball out of his hand. But he still had a great game.”
The Vikings made a ton of contact on Douphner’s big swing and even came away with a handful of blocks on the U.S. National Team U19 prospect. The junior still played well and led the Cats with 14 kills while showcasing some much-improved back-row skills with 11 digs.
Douphner has been a monster on the net since stepping onto the court as a freshman but has emerged as a great all-around player with some much-improved passing skills.
“It’s been a huge focus for him to improve his passing,” said Wildcats coach Brandon Johnson. “It’s something that the USA volleyball coaches wanted him to focus on and it has really, really improved. It really steadies us in the back row having him be able to pass like that…The kid works his butt off. The kid wants to be great, and he’s on that path.”
Setter Jackson Manansala also registered a double-double with 24 assists and 15 digs.
West Ranch could do no wrong in the first set as its offense fired on all cylinders.
Six Wildcats registered kills before the team had 12 points, showcasing the balanced attack Johnson aims for.
“We’ve talked about this as a team since October, we have to be a balanced team in order to get the block to stop focusing on Noah,” Johnson said. “When other people are able to put the ball away, that’s when we’re at our best. And when we don’t have multiple people putting a ball away, we become very one dimensional and even the best players in the sport have a hard time going up against four hands.”
Valencia’s blocking sparked the team back into the first set, but back-to-back stuffs by Wildcats senior Lucas Reuter gave West Ranch the first set.
“We gave them the proverbial punch in the mouth in the first set and played about as well as we could play,” Johnson said. “I told the boys Valencia was going to make some adjustments and we needed to match. I thought we did in the second and third set. It was a battle of two good teams going after, and it was 25-23, 25-23, and unfortunately, we have been on the wrong side of that score so often this year.”
Both teams battled in two tightly contested middle sets where the Vikings were able to sneak by.
Valencia nearly won the second game comfortably before West Ranch sparked a 4-0 run to take a 23-22 lead. The Vikings then fired off three straight points, including a kill and ace from senior Jet Ricks.
Ricks added 10 kills while his twin brother, Dane Ricks, finished with eight.
Valencia is now the first Foothill League team to three league wins this season, but Riley knows there’s a long road ahead and plenty of chances to improve.
“We gotta keep getting better,” Riley said. “We can’t worry about the victory, we gotta keep getting better. Otherwise, people are gonna catch up.”
This season is shaping up to be one of the tightest Foothill League races and the year has just begun. Both West Ranch and Valencia were pushed to five sets by Saugus, while Canyon and Castaic have improved immensely from last season.
Johnson knows if his squad can finish off more tight sets, they’ll be at or near the top of the tight Foothill League standings.
“We need to flip the 23-25 score to 25-23 in our favor,” Johnson said. “If we can win a couple of those sets and get that momentum on our side, I think that we will be right there at the end of the year. I truly believe in my seven years that this is the most parity that we’ve ever had in our league, and I think it’s fantastic for the sport and fantastic for Santa Clarita. It just means that every single match is a fight. Momentum is very much a thing in sports and very much a thing in high school. And if we can get that momentum on our side, I think we’ll be able to win a lot of matches.”
Valencia returns to league play on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when the team hosts Canyon while West Ranch heads to Thousand Oaks at 6:30 p.m.
