West Ranch boys’ volleyball sweeps Golden Valley
West Ranch boys’ volleyball has been unstoppable as of late.
The Wildcats swept the visiting Golden Valley Grizzlies on Thursday, marking five straight wins for West Ranch.
The Cats won on senior night, 25-20, 25-15, 2521, behind an all-around team showing.
Junior Noah Douphner led West Ranch with match-highs of 12 kills and four aces. The junior has been the catalyst for the Wildcats’ success but his senior teammates came through on Thursday with some remarkable plays.
Senior opposite hitter Aiden Prestridge added nine kills and a pair of aces in his final regularseason home match in a West Ranch jersey.
“It was realizing that I’m going to be done with my life in high school and I’m gonna be off to be an adult after this season,” Prestridge said. “I realized just go have fun for my last game at home and just play.”
Prestridge played well with some hard swings that nailed some tough angled shots for kills.
Back-to-back points from Douphner via a block and kill ended the first set while fueling West Ranch (19-11, 8-4) into the second.
West Ranch celebrated the match victory afterward but its loudest cheers came when senior Caden Soule entered the second game to serve.
Soule’s final season ended before it even began with an ACL tear holding the pin hitter out for his senior year. The senior entered the game to serve and gave his team an ace thanks to a high floater that sent the crowd and coach Brandon Johnson into jubilation.
“Caden was going to be a big part of our team this year and before the season started, he tore his ACL and hasn’t been able to play the whole year,” Johnson said. “We were able to get him on. It was just for fun. We had zero expectations. I told him to not even step onto the court, and he served an ace. I told the boys no matter what happens, Caden has the highest ace percentage on the team this year. So it’s something he can hang his hat on.”
Senior middle blocker Lucas Reuter added one of his two blocks in the second set early on after he stuffed USC commit Nicholas Waldron.
Reuter added six kills and three blocks on the night.
Miscommunication would doom the Grizzlies (23-16, 4-8) in set two while the Wildcats thrived. Numerous hitting errors of a typically tremendous hitting team flipped the second game into a lopsided set, which senior middle blocker Trevor Adams ended with a kill.
Adams was one of five key seniors to contribute in the Wildcat win.
“It’s just awesome to have people contribute on a team even though we have a non-senior that is our go-to guy,” Johnson said. “We had (Prestridge) get a lot of kills. We had Lucas and Trevor get a lot of blocks. We had Sal (Rodriguez, a libero) playing great defense and passing really well. And then Carson, who basically joined our team last year, kind of for fun, has developed into a steady rock and has had a presence on the court.”
The Grizzlies were without a block through the first two sets until Waldron sent two swings back to West Ranch early in the third set.
Golden Valley was back in the match early in the third but couldn’t catch West Ranch after a 5-5 tie quickly turned into a 3- to 4-point deficit.
Grizzlies captain Peter Hall led the team with eight kills while freshman Raf Asuacion and libero Abel Nieto added aces for the team.
The Grizzlies fell just out of reach from securing an automatic playoff spot but the team’s impressive non-league record and recent tournament success give the team some strong hope for an at-large bid.
Golden Valley was in every single league match but only West Ranch was able to sweep the Grizzlies twice this season.
“We’re really excited for the playoffs,” Prestridge said. “Last year did not go well as our season kind of just fell apart. So, this year it came back and it’s going to go really well hopefully for us …We’ve grown a lot throughout the season. I’d say compared to all four years is the most the team has grown for me. We’ve gotten a lot closer and a lot more friendly. So our team just is a lot more cohesive.”
West Ranch is a lock for the playoffs along with league champion Valencia. Both teams concluded league play with big win streaks and could very well meet for a third time in the Division 4 postseason.
“I feel like we’re hitting our stride and that if we can continue playing, continue improving and continue working hard, that we can make some noise in the playoffs,” Johnson said.
The Vikings got the better of the Wildcats twice this season but a high-stakes third matchup between the two could change everything.
“It would be fun for the valley,” Johnson said. “It would just be fun because these boys are such good friends with the Valencia boys and there’s no secrets between these teams. Everybody knows what you’re gonna do. So, if it ends up getting to that, great, but it doesn’t matter. Whoever we draw, we have to focus on that team and we have to win that match. Then we move on from there.”
Valencia, Saugus, West Ranch and Canyon find out their playoff journeys on Sunday, while bubble teams Golden Valley and Castaic await the CIF brackets in hopes of their names being called.