QUARTERFINAL BOUND: Montebello s Manuel Pereida, center,
hits past Santa Fe defenders during Thursday s CIF-SS Division 4
second-round playoff match. The host Oilers won in five games.
(Keith Durflinger / Staff Photographer)

They are down to the sweet 16 in the CIF-Southern Section boys volleyball playoffs, and Montebello, which earned a share of the Almont League title, and El Rancho, which finished second in the Del Rio League, have spots.
The Oilers beat Del Rio League champ Santa Fe in five games on Thursday, and the Dons did the same to Magnolia.
Both will be on the road in Division 4 on Saturday. Montebello travels to No. 2 seed Campbell Hall, while El Rancho visits top seed Cathedral.

Here is John Sherrard’s story on Montebello’s big win over Santa Fe:

By John Sherrard, Correspondent
MONTEBELLO — For the first time in three years, the Montebello High School boys volleyball team is returning to the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals.
Visiting Santa Fe battled back from a 2-0 deficit, but it wasn’t enough as the Oilers won Thursday’s second-round match in five games, 25-22, 25-10, 20-25, 24-26, 15-7.
Montebello (24-9), which was led by the senior outside hitter tandem of Manuel Pereida (24 kills, three blocks) and Joey Chavez (15 kills), advances to the quarterfinals where it will travel to Campbell Hall of North Hollywood on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Del Rio League champion Santa Fe, which lost in the quarterfinals last season, finished its season at 19-9.
“That’s a quality team (Santa Fe) and they fought back,” Oilers coach Greg Ng said.

The Almont League co-champion Oilers, ranked seventh in the division, held a 12-6 lead in the fifth and deciding game, when Chavez took over to close out the win.
The 5-foot-9 senior had three thunderous kills out of the last four points in the contest.
“That’s what he wants, he’s a gamer,” Ng said of Chavez.
Perhaps the key of the match came in the first game when Montebello led 23-18, and Santa Fe fought back to trail, 24-22, behind Montebello errors and a big kill by junior middle blocker Jordan King (14 kills, three blocks).
However, Pereida finished the game with a kill and ended the Santa Fe rally.
Santa Fe quickly got in a 12-0 hole in the second game behind some terrific defense by sophomore libero Edgar Gonzalez (13 digs) and the play of junior setter Marck Velasquez, who had a game-high 47 assists.
The Chiefs came back, winning the next two games behind the duo of Christian Perez, a sophomore middle blocker who dominated at the net (nine kills), and senior outside hitter Roberto Rivera (eight kills) to force a fifth and deciding game.
“Losing 10 seniors is going to hurt us, but I’m very proud of this bunch, especially Isaiah (Gonzalez) and Derek (Orozco),” Santa Fe coach Chris Komer said.
“They have been in the program all four years and have always been willing to do what we ask of them. (Derek) works the offense really well and he’s our quarterback, and how he goes, we go.”
Orozco, a setter, finished with 38 assists.