First career appearance in the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals?
No sweat for Stanley Filiaga.
The Camarillo High senior drilled 23 kills and had nine digs to lead the Scorpions to a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 25-27, 25-22) victory over Yorba Linda on the road Tuesday night to advance to the CIF-SS Division 2 boys volleyball semifinals.
It was the athletic pin hitter’s third time finishing with more than 20 kills in a match this season.
Setter Zenji Arias was Filiaga’s co-star offensively, dominating with 48 assists, seven digs, three blocks, three aces and two kills. Ayden Winquest had 11 kills, Bryce Capella had nine kills, Breck Bray added eight kills and seven digs and Grant Wall had six kills and six blocks.
Camarillo (28-4), which advances to host Huntington Beach-Edison in Friday’s semifinals, took an early 2-0 lead before Yorba Linda battled back to force a fourth set.
The Scorpions’ victory was the start of a string of playoff victories for local boys volleyball teams this week.
On Wednesday, May 6, both Royal and Foothill Tech clinched semifinals berths with victories on the road.
Zach Ohl had 26 digs and three assists, Styles Haley-Kettler scored 15 kills and had two blocks, Royal Knox logged 36 assists and Curren Wiggins had seven kills and five blocks as Foothill Tech (14-8) defeated Valley Christian (15-12-1) in a five-set classic.
“They have been singing in the bus the whole ride home,” Foothill Tech head coach David Benedik said. “It was a big victory for our program. They are really excited to still be playing.”
The Dragons traded sets all the way to a pivotal tiebreaker, finally prevailing 3-2 (28-26, 18-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-9). Benedik said his team’s defensive execution, led by his libero, Ohl, was key to the victory in a match characterized by lots of out of system play.
“We played really good defense,” Benedik said. “We had to be really scrappy on defense, extend those rallies so that we could win those tight points.”
Foothill Tech will host either Rialto or La Sierra Academy May 9 at home.
A 10-point service run for junior Grant Herzer clinched a 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21) win for Royal (15-10) over Temple City (17-12) on the road in the Division 4 quarterfinals.
The Highlanders went from trailing 7-4 to leading 14-7, according to head coach Ryan Moberly.
“It was all said and done at that point — they were down too much to overcome,” Moberly said. “We also had a great night from Vaughn Rizzo and Donnie Fleming. They just dominated, pin to pin, on both sides. Micah (Park) had complete control of the offense. We were really hitting on all cylinders.”
The Highlanders will travel to take on Village Christian, who defeated crosstown rival Simi Valley 3-1 in the first round of the Division 4 playoffs, May 9 for a semifinal matchup.
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for the Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Three county teams advance to CIF-SS boys volleyball semifinals
Reporting by Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
