Hillcrest knocks off Vista Murrieta in playoff opener

RIVERSIDE » Right now, Marcello Souza wants to let his play do the talking.

The 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter had a matchhigh 32 kills and 10 digs as the Hillcrest boys volleyball team came from behind to defeat Vista Murrieta 23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 2927 on Thursday night in an emotion-packed CIF Southern Section Division 3 firstround playoff match.

“I’m not much of a talker so I try to lead by example by playing hard, but (Vista Murrieta’s) intensity lifted us up big time,” Souza said.

Souza also had two blocks and an ace as Hillcrest (26-4) won its sixth consecutive match. The River Valley League champions advance to play at Downey in a second round match today.

“I think our connection and our energy right now is good,” Souza said. “If we put that all together, we’re thinking about playing for a CIF championship.”

Junior middle blocker Brandon Underwood had 24 kills for Vista Murrieta (11-7), which won the opening set and were tied in the fourth, 22-22, before a rare emotional outburst saw Nick Jerraneau receive the Broncos’ first red card of the season.

“We don’t play like this ever and I think we got in our own heads a little bit,” Vista Murrieta senior captain Zach Nicoletti said. “We’ve never got a yellow or red card this season, so that’s pretty crazy.”

Underwood and 6-4 Anthony Wade dominated the first set, as Vista Murrieta shifted its lineup in the absence of 6-7 middle blocker Julian Montes (ineligible).

“It was tense. We wanted to win and we tried our hardest,” Underwood said. “We could’ve adjusted better, but we let our emotions get to us and we broke down a little bit.”

Souza turned up his focus and had nine kills and an ace in the second set, as Hillcrest rebounded from losing its first set in three weeks. The Trojans have won 18 of 19 sets during their current winning streak.

“Today we had to be extra precise because they’re a big team and we had to go around them (and) find holes,” Souza said. “We couldn’t out-muscle them. They’re pretty big.”

Souza continued to find ways to beat Vista Murrieta at the net and turned in nine more kills — including the game-winner — in the third set.

“The first set was kind of a wake-up call but after that the team stepped up and everybody did really well for the next three sets,” Souza said.

Vista Murrieta got out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set behind two early kills and a block from Underwood, but the Broncos never pushed the lead to more than four points as Hillcrest hung around and pecked at the lead.

Hillcrest senior Manfrey Lewanavanua’s athletic block tied it at 16-16, and the two teams went backand-forth for several points until Lewanavanua’s second block of the set tied it again at 22.

Jerraneau complained to the head referee that Lewanavanua committed a net violation, and both he and Underwood received yellow cards for tugging on the net before Jerraneau was sent off for dissent.

Hillcrest earned a point for the violation and led 2322 but two more kills and a block by Underwood had Vista Murrieta back up 2625 before a service error by Underwood gave the ball back on a side out.

Trojans captain Isaac McKoy (55 assists) set up Souza for two more kills and a 28-27 lead before a hitting error by A.J. Poyer ended the match.

Hillcrest, which had a 15-match winning streak earlier in the campaign, is now 13-1 at home this season.