Bolsa Grande and Garden Grove boys volleyball teams prepare for playoffs
GARDEN GROVE — The regular-season finale between the Bolsa Grande and Garden Grove boys volleyball teams featured a battle of league champions.
The Matadors, who won the Coast League championship this season, concluded their regular season by sweeping the Golden West League champion Argonauts, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21, on Tuesday at Bolsa Grande High.
But both teams hope to continue their success in the postseason.
Bolsa Grande coach Brad Hemmerling is happy to head to the playoffs on a high note, as his goes into the postseason with a 19-2 overall record that includes going 11-1 in league.
"It’s a for sure good sign for us to look this clean and dialed in," Hemmerling said. "We preach a lot about fundamentals, passing, serving, and it looked really good tonight. But yeah, it feels good to end the season with a win against the league champ team, a really good team in Garden Grove.
“Now we got kind of like a week to prepare for CIF, but it feels good to just get that last win. So it was important for us."
The CIF Southern Section playoffs begin next week.
The Bolsa Grande senior trio of opposite hitter Matthew Van, libero Nixon Pham and middle blocker Dylan Nguyen have been some of the key players for the team this season.
"Matthew Van is kind of like our offensive go-to guy when we need a kill." Hemmerling said. "He gets a lot of sets because he’s just, he’s just really good on the right side. He puts a lot of balls away for us."
"I’d say Nixon, obviously, is our passing and our defensive anchor. He’s incredible with his arm and his passing and just kind of settling us in in our serve reception. He just gives us a real good rhythm, a real good flow."
Pham plans to play for Irvine Valley College next year.
"Dylan is our energy guy. He has crazy energy." Hemmerling said of Nguyen. "His job on the team is to block and touch as many balls as possible, get up in transition. We set them. It may not be a bounce, but he gets a lot of kills. He’s really efficient. And then when he turns back to our guys, he’s like, he’s on fire. So he brings that energy and he gets us up, which we need, because sometimes we're a quiet group."
As for Garden Grove, coach Frankie Perales wants his team to use the time before the start of the playoffs to get healthy.
"It’s been kind of rough because we’ve been going through some injuries," Perales said. "But hopefully this week, we pretty much have the rest of the week off, (and that) will help our kids get in better health and make a run in the postseason. I mean, we have the ability to do it. And we have the players to do it too."
The Argonauts, who are 16-15 overall and went 11-1 in league, have leaned on setter Nathan Nguyen, middle hitter Bi Nguyen and outside hitter Aaron Nguyen.
"They have a lot of energy and everything but today we were flat." Perales said of his players. “I mean, they seemed like they didn’t have that energy. But I think that once the team is complete and back to being healthy, I think we’ll be fine."
Hemmerling, who is in his second season at the helm, is looking forward to the postseason.
"This year we’ve been ranked really high, which is cool for a team in Garden Grove." he said. "You know, we’re a top 50 team which might put us in, like, a Division 3 (bracket), which is gonna be tough. But these boys are up for the challenge.
“They’re not scared of anybody. We’re not gonna lose the game looking at guys’ bounce balls in the warm ups. You know? We know what we do. We control the ball, and we control the rhythm of the game, and we’re ready for CIF. So we’re excited."
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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 10:58 PM.