After coming off a sweep over Golden Valley on Tuesday, Saugus was tested at home in its win over Valencia.
The Centurions defeated the Vikings in five sets, 25-16, 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-8, for their fourth win in a row.
“This has kind of been us the whole season,” head coach Zachary Ambrose said. “We’ll be up and down with our youth but when it matters, they’ve been able to come through in game fives.”
Saugus (14-1, 3-0) began the game claiming the first set over Valencia (2-6, 1-5) by a nine-point margin.
But in the second set, Valenica picked up the tempo and tested the Centurions. Both teams battled back and forth, exchanging leads.
Valencia held a 14-11 lead over Saugus after a hitting error from the Centurions’ Kimora Hogains. But Saugus rallied back to tie the set at 14 apiece after a hitting error from Valencia’s Kayla Rust.
Saugus took back the lead, 20-17, but back-to-back Kai Howard aces kept Valencia in the game. Tied at 20 apiece, the Vikings went on a 5-1 scoring run to close out the second set with an ace from Aarna Bunyan to finish it off.
In the third set, Saugus held Valencia at bay. In the closing stages in the third, the Centurions were up 22-17 over Valencia after a Vikings hitting error. But despite a comeback from Valencia to cut the deficit to within three at 23-20, Saugus edged out Valencia for the win.
Following the third-set loss, the Vikings came out of the break hot. The Vikings took a 13-5 lead over Saugus after an ace from Sophia Lagman. Too many mistakes from Saugus’ offense prevented the Centurions from making a comeback and cost the Centurions their momentum and set.
An ace from Mai’ana Untalan sealed the fourth for Valencia and forced a fifth and decisive set.
During the huddle between sets, Ambrose held a long talk with his team, relaying the message that the only thing that mattered at that point in the game was executing in the fifth.
“Don’t think about the past, just focus on the game ahead,” Ambrose said. “Whatever happened there doesn’t affect the game coming forward, and they did a good job of blocking that out.”
With the gym rocking, Saugus and Valencia exchanged kills in the opening stages. But the Vikings took a 5-2 lead after a Saugus hitting error. Before the Vikings could build upon the lead, opposite hitter Taylor Stires landed an explosive kill and shifted the momentum to Saugus.
A hitting error from Valencia and a Stires ace tied the set back up at 5 apiece and Saugus took the lead in the fifth after a hitting error from the Vikings’ Howard.
Saugus went on a 10-3 scoring run to finish out the set, including back-to-back kills from Hogains to deliver set and match point for the Centurions.
“That’s what we trained for,” Ambrose said. “Whenever we have those opportunities to score, we want to be aggressive and go after it. And even though they’ve had some mistakes through the game, when the game mattered, they weren’t afraid to go for that point.”
Hogains led her team in kills with 33, averaging 6.6 per set.
Saugus picked up its 14th win of the year and third in league and will have limited time to rest as the players set their eyes to the Whittier tournament this weekend.
Despite the quick turnaround, Ambrose isn’t fazed and instead will have his team ready for the competition ahead.
“Just practice, probably a light practice tomorrow, get our reps in because it’s going to be a long two days,” he said.
Saugus plays on Friday for its first game of the tournament, matching up against the Pasadena Bulldogs with the game set to begin at 3 p.m.
