Upland beats Chino Hills in Baseline showdown

Contreras registers a match-high 15 kills as the Highlanders take over sole possession of first place

Upland boys volleyball coach Scott Robertson doesn’t think his team has realized just how good it can be this season.

For those teams in a much-improved Baseline League, that’s a scary thought

The Highlanders were pushed by Chino Hills in Tuesday’s match between league title contenders but ultimately prevailed 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19.

Upland won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship last season, while Chino Hills reached the semifinal round of the Division 5 playoffs.

“I am not happy at all with how we played today, but the bright side was we did get to see how they responded to adversity,” Robertson said. “We have to realize that teams are going to come at us with their best shot and match that effort. I don’t feel like we’ve done that very well so far.”

Upland (10-3 overall, 3-0 in league) extended its lead to 10-4 in the opening set after a kill from Franklin Shiekh. Chino Hills closed the gap following solo blocks from Cam Smith and Sean Spicer. However, the Highlanders pushed their lead back to seven after a kill from Ali Eltahir and then went on to take the first set.

Chino Hills (13-2, 2-1) was in control for much of the second before Upland rallied for a 25-20 win. The Huskies’ largest lead was seven points after Smith and Sonnyboy Matavao combined on a block with Chino Hills holding a 17-10 lead. Five different Huskies, led by Spicer’s four kills, recorded a kill as Chino Hills worked its way to that lead. But Upland answered back, and AJ Contreras’ kill out of the back row closed out the set for the Highlanders.

“That’s a good Chino Hills team that really made us fight today,” said Contreras, who recorded a match-high 15 kills. “After last year, we have to prove that we can stay at this level and that there is talent all over Southern California that can play at this level.”

Upland led 8-4 early in the third set and was on their way to a sweep before surrendering a 12-2 run. Smith had two kills and a block assist, while Matavao added three more kills in the run for Chino Hills. Spicer recorded backto-back kills to give Chino Hills some breathing room after Upland cut the deficit to one point, and two kills in the final three points from Matavao sent the match to a fourth set.

In that fourth set, Upland jumped out to a 5-1 lead and was never seriously threatened.

“Tonight, I felt like we let an opportunity get away from us,” Chino Hills coach Mike Rodriguez-jimenez said. “But playing teams like Upland exposes flaws in your team, and today we had an issue with serve receive which I know the guys will work to fix before our next match.”

Spicer had 14 kills to lead Chino Hills, while Matavao added nine kills for the Huskies.