Saugus girls’ volleyball fired on all cylinders in its heavyweight league bout with the visiting West Ranch Wildcats.
The Centurions swept the Wildcats, 25-9, 25-17, 25-21, with just about everything clicking starting with the beatdown that was the first set.
After heat rescheduled the match, the Centurions (25-1, 6-0) finally hosted the Wildcats (9-2, 5-1) on Monday, and Saugus exploded to start.
The Centurions shot ahead and rode a 16-0 run with senior Leila Ballard serving. Ballard totaled three of her five aces in the run and kept West Ranch out of system through most of the first two games.
The Wildcats struggled to get a good pass off whether it was off the serve or a hit on the net. Saugus senior Leah Taylor fired away in the first set with four big kills to keep West Ranch at a few arms’ lengths.
Ballard totaled eight kills while Taylor finished with seven.
The Centurions nearly pulled off a 20-point win in the first set, which would be nothing new for the freight train that is Saugus girls’ volleyball, but the Cats fired off five late points to reach nine.
“We were just ready to play in that first set,” said Saugus coach Zach Ambrose. “They’ve been wanting this for so long and instead of coming out unfocused and over-excited, they were laser-focused on what they had to do. They executed amazingly in that first set, and just made it really hard for West Ranch.”
West Ranch improved in the second set but still couldn’t slow down Saugus. After the team finished with just three kills in the opening game, the Wildcats started swinging more efficiently.
Freshman Devyn Kobe and junior Joleen Reynolds both added three kills for West Ranch.
However, Ballard and sophomore opposite hitter Kimora Hogains both caught fire and led the way in putting the Cats in a 2-0 hole.
Both Ballard and Hogains added three kills in the set, with the senior also adding two more aces and the latter adding a block. Hogains has been a pleasant surprise for Saugus in her first year on varsity.
“She’s a sophomore, first year on varsity, but she jumps through the roof,” Ambrose said. “Everyone kind of underestimates her blocking, but she reaches really high and can take away a lot of court. People think they can hit the line on us, and she does a really good job of forcing them to go somewhere else.”
Both sides of the gym were near capacity for a match that brought in hundreds of students and even numerous coaches from around the league. Saugus’ section only added more kerosine to the firepower as the Centurion students kept the energy high in the shield house.
The Wildcats could’ve easily rolled over but stormed ahead in the third set. A smoking swing from Kobe and some early errors put Saugus in a quick 7-1 deficit.
West Ranch setter Dani Clewis also fueled the near-comeback with a few dumps, a block and an ace to keep momentum with the Wildcats.
After initially trailing by six, Saugus tied the score with a block from Hogains and Katelyn Nelson before taking the lead at 22-21. Saugus reformed its near impenetrable unit and finished off West Ranch with a kill from middle blocker Katelyn Nelson.
“In that third game, I just liked the fact that we didn’t quit,” Ambrose said. “We got down, we were making some errors, they were making us make some errors, but we just chipped away and finally found that run at the end. We’ve done that a couple of times this year.”
Jacobson was one of six Centurions with at least five points on the night, showcasing the all-around firepower that has fueled Saugus to 25 wins.
Another Centurion finally getting some swings in was senior Morgan Guardado. The senior has been Saugus’ setter since the start of last year. Prior to that, she served as the Centurions’ outside hitter opposite Ballard in the team’s 2022 CIF championship run. When she went down with an injury for a few weeks, the team turned to setter Bailey Posey, who impressed Ambrose with her leading of the offense. Now with both setters healthy, Saugus ran a 6-2 system with both setters playing, allowing Guardado to get more swings on the net.
“(The 6-2) worked well. It was the first time we’ve used it,” Ambrose said. “We’ll have to go back, watch some film, but I think overall, it maximized our strengths. I’ve never run one. I’ve been very blessed to have (5-foot, 11-inch) setters, or setters like Morgan, who can play all the way around. I just think we’re better right now in this system, because it makes us even more balanced. Morgan’s hitting in club and she was an outside hitter for us when we won CIF. She knows that position.”
West Ranch was without head coach Jamey Ker, who had an inkling he’d miss this game for a while as both the original and rescheduled match dates were right around the due date for his first-born child.
With the Wildcats regrouping and Ker’s return, Ambrose knows it’ll be a whole new fight up at West Ranch in about a week, in a match that will most likely decide a Foothill League champion.
“Now, we just got to do it again,” Ambrose said. “We’ve got to repeat, and can’t lose any kind of focus. We have a lot of hungry teams in our league that are ready to take us down and give us the best shot. Now there’s more pressure on us to keep pushing and do the best we can.”
Both teams meet again, up at West Ranch on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Saugus heads to Valencia on Thursday while West Ranch heads to Canyon. All matches are slated for 5 p.m.
