SANTA CLARITA >> The West Ranch boys volleyball team knew it would be in for a challenge when staring at it across the net was one of the area’s top players in Alemany outside hitter Mason Briggs.
After a rough start, West Ranch used its depth at outside hitters with Zack Drake and Tristin Clint who provided a balanced attack and the Wildcats outlasted Alemany in four sets 17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 27-25 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinals at Valencia High School.
Drake had 18 kills and Clint had 14 kills for West Ranch (27-7), which kept Briggs at a distance. It was the stellar play from the back row that proved to be the ultimate difference.
Libero Spencer Birchall had 13 digs and Johnny Buchanan had 41 assists and seven digs for the Foothill League champions.
“We knew that Mason was going to be a factor all game long coming in,” Buchanan said. “He’s a great player so I knew that we ultimately had to maintain our level of play and we really did a great job of staying together.”
Briggs finished with 14 kills and five aces but his team unraveled in the second set. After an error that put his team down 23-18, Briggs in frustration grabbed the middle of the net and was assessed a yellow card.
“I really didn’t think I did anything to deserve that yellow,” Briggs said. “It was an emotional game and we’re an emotional team. All credit to West Ranch. We just had trouble finishing and we got caught out of rotation more than we would have liked to.”
It was also the second time Alemany (24-6) had faced West Ranch this season after winning the first matchup. It was West Ranch’s depth that proved to be the determining factor against its Mission League opponent — plenty of hitters up front and then a stout back line led by Birchall and Buchanan.
West Ranch, even after taking the second set, found itself down six times combined in the third and fourth sets.
“We just wanted to win this game so badly and it just felt good to be able to pull this off against a great team like Alemany,” Birchall said. “We just focused and zoned in and we never let our emotions get too ahead of ourselves when we got down. We just kept playing.”
Alemany had its opportunity to win the fourth set leading 24-22 but a serving error gave the Wildcats an extra opportunity to finish the match in four. The final points were won for West Ranch in part to senior middle blocker Colin Murphree. Murphree had several key blocks in the final moments and his name was chanted by his team after the match’s final point was scored.
“I barely even noticed it,” Murphree said. “I was just focused on getting that final point to help my team win. I couldn’t really feel anything but when they started chanting my name, I knew we had won.”
from Daily News http://bit.ly/2WkF2xM
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