West Ranch boys’ volleyball refuses to let its magical season end.
The Wildcats defeated the visiting Mission Vista Timberwolves on Thursday and will now play for the SoCal Regional championship.
West Ranch overcame a slow start and won the match, 23-25, 25-21, 32-30 and 25-17.
Mission Vista (34-7), the CIF San Diego Section Division 2 champion, boasts a ton of authentic firepower. However, the West Ranch block and passing was able to slow down the Timberwolves just enough to win.
The Cats (27-11) were led by outside hitter Noah Douphner with 26 kills and two blocks.
After getting mowed down in the first set, West Ranch responded with a new energy and took the second.
Six different Wolves registered points within the first 17 plays of the match.
Mission middle blocker Robert Hege was huge in the first with a pair of aces and blocks. Hege finished the night with six kills, four blocks and two aces.
The third set likely decided the match as both teams emptied the tank to win the pivotal set.
West Ranch needed an energy boost and got it from an unsung hero, the school’s ASB. The group had just finished a banquet and piled in over 100 students to get the gym rocking for the pivotal third set.
“We came out just really flat and we were very fortunate that our ASB had their awards night tonight and they decided to come down and support the boys volleyball program,” said Wildcats coach Brandon Johnson. “They provided a really good student section that you don’t see in boys volleyball, too often, and our boys fed off that energy. I don’t know if it messed the other team up but it gave us confidence. It gave us some extra recharge of the battery when we needed it.”
Down 22-24, the Wildcats refused to go away. Douphner came up with three kills to even the score during the end of the deuce set. A hitting error set up game point for West Ranch before Douphner ended the set with a huge kill from the pipe.
West Ranch was fueled by its huge student section but still pushed into the 30’s of a long deuce set, something the Wildcats know how to play in.
“The third set was just an epic battle, 32-30, but we’ve been there all year,” Johnson said. “I want to say this is at least probably our fourth different match we’ve had a set go into the 30s.”
Wolves outside hitter Brody Hagenah was unstoppable in the third set, where he fired in 11 of his 24 kills.
Winning the set powered West Ranch and seemingly gutted mission Vista, who committed a plethora of errors in the fourth set.
Every time the Timberwolves seemingly grabbed a bit of momentum, the Wildcats erased it with plays like a service ace from setter Jackson Manansala or a huge solo block from Logan Sanchez.
“We walked into today probably overconfident and then in the first set, they ended up beating our butts,” Sanchez said. “We had to flip that switch again and we came back swinging. The second set we won, and the third set was crazy. That’s when we knew we had the advantage in the game and we just carried that momentum all the way through.”
Sanchez was again key in the win and had another efficient night on the net with 14 kills just two errors, along with some nice passing.
“I’m just so unbelievably proud of Logan Sanchez,” Johnson said. “A lot of times, the coaches and I call him the savior. He comes and saves us in these long rallies and gets the humongous kill.”
Douphner also added a handful of digs alongside libero Chris Song. The libero subbed in for Caleb Sperber the second set and quickly gave the Wildcats’ back row a boost.
“(The Timberwolves) were very good when they were good, but we were steady enough.” Johnson said. “We made a switch at libero after the first set and brought in Chris Song. We’ve been running both liberos all year so I’m very, very confident. I told them after the game that I’m very confident in ‘Caleb-stopher,’ a combination of both of them, to go in and play libero where needed. Chris just steadied us a little bit and didn’t do anything crazy, but he did enough for us to just settle down and that’s what we needed.”
Middle blocker Lucas Reuter contributed 12 points for West Ranch, including the match-sealing block.
West Ranch will now play in its second title match in a week. The Wildcats will host the La Costa Canyon Mavericks, the CIF San Diego Division 1 champions, who enter the title match off a 3-1 victory over the No. 1 seeded Sage Creek.
The Wildcats bested the Mavericks earlier this season, 2-0 in tournament play nearly two months ago, in two tight sets.
Win or lose, West Ranch ends its historic season on Saturday at noon at Golden Valley High School and Johnson could not be prouder of his group.
“It’s at the point now where I don’t want the season to end at all,” Johnson said. “There’s certain times throughout the season when we’re tired both physically and emotionally and you can’t see the finish line in sight. I don’t want the season to end, but the finish line is 100% in sight. Now Saturday is going to be the last match that this team is going to play and no matter the results there is not going to be a winner or loser in that game because the fact that they have reached this level and the fact that they have taken care of their work in the classroom has already shown that they are winners and champions.”
