BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Flintridge Prep swept by Salesian
Flintridge Prep's season came to an end with a three-game loss to Salesian, 25-17, 25-18, 25-14 in the CIF-SS Division V quarterfinals.
By Scott Galetti, Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES - The Flintridge Prep's boys volleyball team, a year wiser and hungrier, believed it had what it takes to contend for a CIF-Southern Section championship.
There was one obstacle, however, the Rebels couldn't overcome for a second consecutive season - Salesian High.
Flintridge Prep picked the wrong day to play one of its worst matches and it cost the Rebels their season.
Salesian capitalized on numerous unforced errors to beat Flintridge Prep in three games, 25-17, 25-18, 25-14, in a Division VI quarterfinal contest Friday at Salesian.
Bernard Luna proved to be too much for the Rebels (13-9) to handle. Luna had 11 kills, all in the final two games, to propel the Mustangs (22-0), the 2007 runners-up, into the semifinals.
"I told the guys before, the scores don't really represent the game," Flintridge Prep coach Sean Beattie said. "It was back and forth and you give up three points, back and forth and you give up three more points and, all of a sudden, the game's over and you have 18 points."
Friday was a rematch of last year's semifinals, a wild contest won by Salesian in five games.
Flintridge Prep could have used some of last year's energy as Salesian strung together five consecutive points to snap a 7-7 tie en route to victory in Game 1.
"We didn't play our best and they played exactly like we knew they would - consistent, level-headed and calm," Beattie said. "We made more errors than they did."
The Rebels owned an 11-9 lead before the Mustangs slowly wrestled the game away to grab a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
"This year we're a little more mature," Salesian coach Peter Lopez said. "Being in the finals last year, that gave us a lot of experience and we came in with a calm attitude and were more focused."
Flintridge Prep led by two on a couple of occasions early in the third game, but Salesian rolled off six consecutive points to grab an 11-6 lead.
The Rebels, down 13-7, used a kill by Dylan Walker and a pair of errors to pull within three points, but they got no closer.
Steven Godinez closed out the match with a block.
Walker led Flintridge Prep with 14 kills and eight digs.
"We went to watch their last game and knew they were coming, so I put my biggest man against Dylan Walker and that was our biggest thing," Lopez said. "Our blocking really won the game for us."
Arthur Kang also had eight digs, and Reed Bradley collected 24 assists in his final high school match.
"To be honest, our passing wasn't doing very well and we weren't playing very good defense," Bradley said. "It's hard, but it would've been worse if we lost in the second round. At least it's the No. 1-ranked team and not like we lost to somebody we should've beaten."
Added Walker: "I've played with some of my good friends and I'll miss them next year, but we had a lot of success, so that's always a good thing to look back on."
Comments
That is correct about Salesian's coaches. And they'll be at Monrovia and St. Lucy's in the fall.
Posted by: vball | May 20, 2008 11:05 AM
A few parents of the Salesian players claim they live in Pasadena area..will the Star News do a feature on them? And rumors also said their coaching staff is employed by ex-San Marino Varsity and ex-Pasadena Poly Varsity coaches...that is a very impressive coaching staff from Pasadena area can Scott confirm that?
Posted by: Soto Street Spiker | May 20, 2008 3:21 AM
Pure and simple, Prep made a lot of errors and Salesian capitalized. There were also some calls made by the officials that got into the heads of the Prep players to make matters worse. Dylan Walker came up with some thunderous hits, but his serve wasn't on, and against a team like Salesian, you can't make that many errors and have a bad serving night across the board and expect to win.
Posted by: Scott Galetti
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May 17, 2008 10:40 AM
a lot of people thought it was going to be an evenly match game especailly when sean beattie said so in the last article...what was prep doing? no details? no revenge? Scott, what happened at the game and did you dispatch a reporter to the game?
Posted by: ex east la residence | May 17, 2008 12:17 AM