It's been a long time coming for the Valley Center High boys volleyball team. A true “worst to first” tale.
Just ask Jaguars coach Alan Dale. A newcomer to the final, Dale discovered his name was left out of the program. But there he was in the picture, standing top left with the championship team he's built.
“This is my first (title) and the first for Valley Center, where I took over the program six years ago and we hadn't won a match,” Dale said. “We've come as far as you can come. To see these guys get a championship, it's just such an honor.”
Upsetting top-seeded Westview 25-27, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-11 for the section Division III title last night at Cathedral Catholic High wasn't easy.
Valley Center (32-6) entered the match having lost two close regular-season matches to the Wolverines, then proceeded to drop the first two games.
“We just played with nothing to lose,” said junior Chase Boberg, who had a match-high 25 kills to go with 15 digs and five blocks. “They've beaten us and we knew we could beat them so we just came out and did it.”
The turning point in the deciding game involved Boberg and junior setter Sam Richmond (51 assists, seven digs).
Boberg spiked a clean kill after an amazing diving save by Richmond.
Westview (31-8) never recovered.
“That was the big save that really got the crowd going and the momentum switched at that point,” Richmond said. “We were picked up, and then we started going for it and it seemed like they were going down from there. We just took advantage of it.”
Dale knew it would be a dogfight.
“Going into this season we were kinda feeling pretty good about ourselves – that we were going to be pretty close to getting a championship,” Dale said of the Jaguars, who reached the semifinals in 2005. “Then we found out that Westview went down (to Division III). We went, 'OK, we're gonna be in a battle now.' ”
Richmond was in shock following the match.
“I didn't expect it,” he said. “We were down 0-2, and when we won, it was just unbelievable. I still can't believe that we just won. I mean, it's like I'm in awe right now.”
Westview was led by junior Zach Toolson (18 kills) and junior Tommy Vanderby (40 assists).
