Upland sweeps much tougher rival Claremont

A year ago, the Upland boys volleyball team dominated the Baseline League, made an appearance in a CIF Southern Section championship match and captured a CIF State regional title.

A year later, Claremont has closed the gap, but not enough to emerge victorious.

Upland remained atop the Baseline League on Thursday by sweeping the Wolfpack 25-22, 25-17, 26-24.

Last year, Upland swept two matchups with secondplace Claremont by an average set score of 25-17.

“I’m pleased with the win. We went three tougher sets (than last year),” Upland coach Scott Robertson said. “They battled. They’re coached well. And the program’s been around awhile.”

The match was the final one of the first round in the seven-team Baseline League and improved Upland to 15-3 overall, 6-0 in league. Claremont dropped to 16-6, 5-1. The teams close Baseline League play with a match at Upland on April 20.

Upland finished each set with a flourish. After Claremont rallied from 19-14 and 22-18 deficits in the first set to tie the score, the Highlanders scored the final three points, including an ace by Gerard Day.

“Where we struggled in the first set was we were allowing a few of their other guys (instead of junior Caleb Sapp) to get some stuff going,” Robertson said.

The second set was 18-16 before Upland scored seven of the final eight points, winning the set on a kill by Kai Vogel.

CLAREMONT >>

While the first two sets were ones that could have gone either way, the third set was clearly favoring the Wolfpack. Claremont led 2013 before Upland went on a 10-1 run.

“Once our serving got going, I think Isaiah (Vogel) got us back into it a little bit then Kai came in and closed it,” Robertson said. “Gerard, he was just hitting spots. We were trying to serve to spots where they couldn’t set Caleb. That’s a testament to him, being a senior and being able to come off the bench cold and hit a spot.”

Claremont coach Bernie Wendling feels the gap has closed between the teams.

“They’re a quality team. Great for the Inland Empire to have a team like that. They’re a top-20 team in Socal,” he said. “We’re trying to compete with that. They’re the class of the league. They push us and hopefully we push them a little bit.”

Claremont’s big gun, the 6-foot-8 Ucla-committed Sapp, led the Wolfpack with 13 kills and three blocks, while Louis Nolte had four kills and five blocks.

“Everybody knows (Sapp) is going to get his swings,” Wendling said. “That’s something we’re working on is getting better at those other guys being able to terminate. So it’s not just Caleb and our other outside.”

Upland had a much more balanced attack. A.J. Contreras lead the way with 15 kills, Kai Vogel had 14 kills, three aces and two blocks and Isaiah Vogel had 11 kills. Aiden Dufour added 37 assists.

“I’m super proud of them, their mental toughness, their focus,” Robertson said.