It was not quite the impression the Monta Vista boys volleyball team wanted to make.
Entering its first Central Coast Section Division I championship match with a school record 31-win season, the No. 3-seeded Matadors expected a performance at least on par with their stirring, five-set victory over league rival Los Gatos in the semifinals three days earlier.
Instead they were overpowered by No. 1 seed St. Francis, which claimed its third CCS title with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-19 sweep Tuesday night at Independence High.
The Lancers, who did not lose a set during their three wins in the 12-team tournament, improved to 34-3, while Monta Vista dropped to 31-6. Both teams will advance to the CIF Northern California Regionals, which begin May 26 and continue with semifinals on May 28 and finals May 30 at Dublin High School.
“We came out a little flat,” Monta Vista coach Paul Chiu said after the CCS final. “We pride ourselves on minimizing mistakes, but tonight we made too many hitting and serving errors.”
“Usually we can keep teams from going on two- or three-point runs,” said senior libero Davig Chang, one of the Matadors’ three captains. “We seemed to be right with them for the first 10 or 15 points in a set, then they pulled away.”
St. Francis went on an 11-4 run midway through the first set, stretching a back-and-forth, one-point lead to 20-12. Monta Vista rallied for three straight points, trimming the deficit to 20-15, but the Lancers scored five in a row to close out the set.
After a 6-6 start to the second set, St. Francis scored the next five points and charged on to a 20-12 advantage. The Lancers’ margin twice reached 10 points en route to the 25-16 victory.
The third set, which had six ties and five lead changes, was Monta Vista’s best. Junior Nathan Mallipedi gave the Matadors some spark off the bench with three kills, and sophomore Prathik Rao and seniors James Mullin and Yining Pan and junior Alex Li also made strong plays at the net.
Neither team could get ahead by more than two until late. The match was tied for the last time at 17-17, before the Lancers closed out with an 8-2 spree.
“St. Francis is an excellent team, but I expected us to be more competitive than we were,” Chiu said. “We have a great group of kids and our play was not indicative of the rest of the season.”
Monta Vista started the season 13-0, including championships at the Leland and Deer Valley tournaments, before losing in the finals of its own event to Leigh. The only other losses came against SCVAL De Anza co-champion Los Gatos, 2-0 defeats to Valley Christian and St. Francis in the King of Cali Tournament and a non-league sweep to the Lancers on April 30.
The Matadors avenged a 3-1 league loss at Los Gatos with a 3-1 decision of its own four weeks later on April 28, earning a co-championship. Both teams finished league play at 11-1.
After opening CCS play on May 14 with a sweep of Willow Glen, 25-15, 25-18, 25-23, Monta Vista made it two in a row over Los Gatos with the semi victory last Saturday afternoon.
“The Los Gatos match was incredible,” said Chang, referring to the 26-24, 18-25, 25-23, 20-25, 17-15 decision that moved them into the finals for the first time.
“We have a lot of talent, but it is the teamwork and cooperation we have that carries us through,” the defensive standout added.
Seniors Tejas Gopal, Kevin Zhang and Joey Wilson also have contributed to the Matadors’ success, as have juniors Eric Zhang, Ethan Kulla, Raman Khalon, Shail Trivedi and Alvin Lui, but now they must regroup for the next phase of the post-season.
“I think knowing we qualified by beating Los Gatos may have taken off some of our edge,” coach Chiu said. “Now we have things to work on. Our goal is to win and it is do or die now.”
