Lions sweep Hawks
Eastside wins league finale, finishes 2nd
LANCASTER — The Eastside boys volleyball team already secured second place in the Golden League before its regular-season finale on Thursday night.
The Lions were focused on regaining momentum heading into the playoffs after a frustrating loss.
Eastside finished the regular season on a high note, sweeping a league match against Knight in straight sets 25-22, 25-23, 25-16 at Eastside High School.
Eastside finishes the regular season with a 15-5-1 overall record and 11-3 in the Golden League, while Knight finishes 1314 overall and 8-6 in league, tied with Highland for fourth place. Quartz Hill clinched its eighth consecutive Golden League title and Lancaster finished in third.
“They played great,” Eastside coach Aaron Harrell said. “We had a few things that we could just hone up on for playoffs, but they were talking. They were really working as a team, which I love seeing. It was great.
“We had a good talk on Tuesday after our loss, but I think we just decided as a team we had to fix it. We have to become a whole actual team and they showed that today with how they were talking. They were playing. They were communicating. It was good.”
Eastside lost a league match against visiting Highland in four sets on Tuesday and knew it would be a close match against Knight in the finale. Eastside defeated Knight in five sets 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 1825, 15-12 on March 29.
“Overall, we’re ending on a high note,” Aaron Harrell said. “We’re actually where we need to be. We did really well in our tournament, so we thought we were going to have a high coming into Tuesday and then we kind of crumbled a little bit, but then we came right back and got a good high again to go into playoffs.”
The CIF-Southern Section playoff brackets will be released on Saturday morning.
“It means … It’s great,” Eastside senior David Carrasco said. “We’re going on to playoffs with a win, which gives us more confidence.
“Definitely better, because the last game we lost, but this brought our motivation up and now I feel like we’re going to do great in the playoffs.”
The first set on Thursday went back and forth with eight ties and seven lead changes.
Eastside had a four-point early lead and then Knight led by as many as three.
Eastside took the lead for good at 2120 and got kills down the stretch by junior Adrian Vasquez and senior Nile Harrell.
“We played amazing, like really, really good,” Nile Harrell said. “I’m proud about it.
“I feel like we did exceptional. I’m really, really proud of everybody and what we’ve accomplished over these three months. I’m proud. I would be proud if we made last place. I’m just proud that I just have the team that I have.”
Harrell and Vasquez had two kills apiece in the opening set, Carrasco had one kill and junior Cesar Camacho had an ace.
Knight’s Adyn Saldana had a kill and two aces and Erik Villamar-Teodoro had a kill and a block.
“I think we played pretty good, but we could have definitely done better,” third-year varsity player Carrasco said. “Definitely serving. We had a lot of missed serves and a bit more covering, I think.”
Eastside took the momentum into the start of the second set, leading by as many as five before Knight rallied to tie the set at 15-15.
There were three ties before the Lions took a 20-19 lead on a kill by junior Isaiah Parker.
Eastside had set point five times before securing the victory on a kill by Nile Harrell.
Nile Harrell had four kills and an ace in the second set, Carrasco had two kills and two aces, junior Keyron Scott had two kills and Parker and sophomore Damion Sanchez had one kill apiece.
Knight’s David Cova had two kills and Julian Ortiz and Francisco Elias both had two kills and a block apiece.
“I thought we played well,” Knight coach Joe Susilla said. “You look at the first two sets, we’re evenly matched teams. That’s been the middle of the league all year.
“I think the middle of the league is really battle tested each other this year.”
The third set was closely contested at the start with five ties before Eastside took a 7-6 lead and never trailed again, building a 10-point lead, 2414, towards the end.
Nile Harrell scored a kill on set and match point. He finished with four kills in the third set, as did Parker. Scott had two kills, senior Ruben Avila had a block and Camacho, Sanchez and junior Chuy Leal all had one ace apiece.
Ortiz had three kills for Knight, Villamar-Teodoro had three blocks, Cova had one kill and Jacob Fukumoto had one block.
“I think we’re playing well,” Susilla said. “We gave the second-place team in our league a match. There’s just some things we need to clear up here and there. We just need to keep working.”
Eastside honored its four seniors — Nile Harrell, Car
rasco, Avila and Manolo Meza — with a ceremony before the match
“It hasn’t really hit me yet, but I think by the time the next day happens I think I’m going to be really, really sad,” Nile Harrell said.
Carrasco is proud of how much the Lions have improved this season.
Eastside finished tied for fifth in league last season with a 5-9 record. Knight was fourth last year with an 8-6 league record.
“This is the best we’ve done,” Carrasco said. “It feels great. My first year we had COVID, so I couldn’t even play that much. My first year on varsity, we never won a set, so it was pretty bad. To end up second place in my final year is amazing.”
Carrasco credited his coach and teammates for the improvement.
“Definitely our coach. He’s done an amazing job coaching us all around,” Carrasco said. “Our teammates who have put in the hard work and determination to do better.”