Harbor's sensational season comes to a close with five-set loss in D-II NorCal Regional opener | Boys volleyball roundup

SANTA CRUZ - Harbor High's boys volleyball team, competing in the CIF NorCal Regional playoffs for a second straight year, came up short against Liberty of Brentwood in a back-and-forth donnybrook that featured numerous momentum swings.

Liberty took the first two sets and Harbor rebounded to take the next two. Down the stretch of a dramatic fifth set, the Lions had the last surge and pulled out a 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 15-13 victory in the thrilling Division II quarterfinal.

"Their serving threw us off early and they had a big block," Harbor outside hitter Josh Rejfir said. "We started to adjust and put pressure on them. It's definitely a disappointing end but I'm proud of how far we've come."

Cooper Lastition produced 20 kills for the Pirates, the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion for the first time since 2009 and Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals.

Rejfir added 19 kills. JJ Laughlin had a superb game with 12 kills, strong in hitting and fierce with the block. In the middle, Enzo Hammig added seven kills and Grady McKee put down five.

"They came out with service pressure and scrappiness," Harbor libero Ryan Wait said. "They minimized errors. I'm happy with our accomplishments, though I wish we could've kept it going."

Rejfir was creative all night, smashing kills through the block, tipping over the front line and tooling the block. Setter Rocklin Paco mixed up the attack after Liberty came out tough. He utilized the middles more and set Lastition and Rejfir at different points in the front line. Wait was solid all night and the Pirates turned up the defense as the night went on.

"That's how you want a state game to be," Harbor coach Kendall Ronzano said. "The stands were packed and there was energy on both sides of the court. And it was a five-set thriller. Liberty is a team that reduces errors and consistency comes from that. Across all sets, one team would lead and the other team would fight back."

Liberty led most of the first set but Rejfir, Hammig and McKee had kills in a run that put Harbor on top 20-17. But the Lions roared back with six straight, three by powerful outside hitter Zachary Sisney, on the way to the win.

In the second set, Harbor led most of the way but again Liberty roared late. They erased a five-point deficit and pulled ahead late to put Harbor in a two-sets-to-none hole.

Ronzano changed her rotations to get different matchups, Lastition caught fire and Paco moved the ball around to avoid the Liberty block. The Pirates were back in gear.

"This is not over by a long shot," said Liberty coach Hailie Bustamante, as the Lions called time with a 15-9 third-set deficit.

Lastition and Rejfir each had four kills in the set win for Harbor. And the fourth set was similar. Harbor built an early lead and held off late Liberty flurries. Laughlin had six kills in the set and, at 23-22, Lastition closed things out with a kill and a service ace.

Harbor led the final set 6-2 but Liberty tied it 9-9. Harbor led 13-12 but Liberty won with a kill from the middle, a point from a big block and on a Harbor kill that went just a foot beyond the back line.

The loss ends the Pirates' record-setting season at 32-7.

"They set lofty goals at the start of the season," Ronzano said. "Win the league and end the drought. Go undefeated in league. Beat Santa Cruz every time we saw them. Go back to CCS and do a run. Get into the CCS Open Division. And go into state. I remain in awe of them and am so proud of them. The seniors came so far since when they were freshmen."

McKee reflected on the big picture.

"I'll remember this season for a while," McKee said. "We had the most wins in school history. The team was fun and we accomplished so much as a team. I'll remember all that."

Santa Cruz 3, Ripon Christian 0

SANTA CRUZ - The top-seeded Cardinals' confident and focused play resulted in a 25-18, 25-17, 25-14 sweep of the No. 8 Knights in the CIF D-III NorCal Regional quarterfinals on Tuesday.

"I thought the boys played really well," Cardinals coach Peter Edwards said. "They were really clean in our side of the game. We knew what to expect. We knew they play a lot through No. 7 (Mason Tameling) and if they were in perfect pass they were going to go to those middles. They have two big middles. They hit the ball hard and straight, so we had to makes sure we were standing in front of them."

Senior middle blocker Guillermo Mazier had eight kills on 10 attempts for the hot hitting Cardinals (26-13), the SCCAL runner-up and CCS D-II champion. Santa Cruz hit .377 as a team.

Mazier was 9-for-10 hitting in the CCS final on Saturday.

Senior outside hitters Charlie Hess and Matty Rayray gave the Knights more than they could handle. Hess had 14 kills of 18 attempts and four digs, and Rayray had 14 kills and four digs.

Senior setter Nathan Monroe had 16 assists and two kills for Santa Cruz, and classmate Lucas Hansen had 15 assists. Senior libero Lucas Kamalani made eight digs.

"I thought we played a really good serve and pass game," Edwards said.

The Cardinals coach praised junior Felippe Zacarias Melo, one of the Cardinals' two jump servers. "He had a great serving game. I thought he carried a big load from the jump-serve side of the point. It kinda puts them off-balance in the serve-pass game. And our float servers did a really good job of targeting their outside hitter and their libero, and kinda making them work that seam, find their platforms, keep them off the net, and giving our block a big chance to get triples."

Tameling, a senior outside hitter/middle blocker, had seven kills and six digs for the Knights (24-16), the Trans Valley Athletic League champion and Sac-Joaquin Section D-III runner-up.

Darren Van Groningen, a 6-7 senior middle blocker/opposite, had five kills and three block assists. Senior setter Daniel Lambdin made 16 assists.

Santa Cruz hosts No. 4 Beyer of Modesto (30-6) in the regional semifinals on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Patriots, the runner-up in the Western Athletic Conference and a five-set winner over Ripon Christian in the Sac-Joaquin Section D-III championship, edged No. 5 Moreau Catholic of Hayward 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 18-25, 15-13 in the regional quarterfinals.

Sentinel Sports Editor Jim Seimas contributed to this report.

IF YOU GO

D-III NorCal Regional semifinals

No. 4 Beyer at No. 1 Santa Cruz

When: Thursday, 6 p.m.

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