Upland stays in control in sweep
UPLAND >> There wasn’t much Jordan Lucas did wrong Wednesday night.
Upland’s senior outside hitter showed some emotion with a subtle shimmy after he had a big block early in the first set of Wednesday’s CIF-SS playoff match.
He got a warning from the head referee.
“This atmosphere was insane,” Lucas said.
Lucas maintained his energy but did not get another talking to as Upland swept past Dos Pueblos 25-19, 25-15, 25-17 in a Division 3 quarterfinal inside a raucous gym at Upland High.
Top-seeded Upland (36-3) advances to Saturday’s semifinal at No. 4 Aliso Niguel.
“I think the key tonight was our consistency,” Lucas said. “We didn’t give up any runs.”
Lucas led Upland with 13 kills and 14 digs, but he was far from the only standout. Kai Vogel had 10 kills and 14 digs, Cian Slade had eight kills and eight blocks and A.J. Contreras had five kills.
“We’re known for our offense, but what I really liked was our defense and our serve receive,” Upland coach Scott Robertson said.
Upland’s serve receive seemed to bother Dos Pueblos enough that the Chargers (17-10-1) had errors on three straight serves, which kept Upland ahead in the third set.
Robertson, who is in his second stint as Upland’s boys volleyball coach, advanced to the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time ever as a boys or a girls coach.
“It’s been kind of a block getting past the quarterfinals,” Robertson said.
There was plenty to like about
Wednesday’s match beyond the result for Robertson as setters Aiden DuFour and Jaden Kodongan combined for 33 assists.
“Jaden has struggled with consistency, but tonight he was the solid senior leader we needed,” Robertson said. “I’m proud of the way the team dealt with the pressure.”
Robertson said he also felt his team had been giving away too many free points with serve errors and felt a more cautious approach to serving worked well Wednesday.
Upland rarely trailed Wednesday. The Highlanders never trailed in the first set after falling behind 4-3 but it was 15-15 before pulling away late, scoring four straight points on Lucas’ serve.
In the second set, Dos Pueblos led 6-4 but Upland scored four straight points and never trailed again. And in the third set, Upland seized control early, jumping to a 5-0 lead and never trailing.
Robertson was never worried enough Wednesday to call a timeout, while Dos Pueblos’ coaches used all six of their timeouts in the three sets.
“I think I’ve called five timeouts this year,” he said. “They don’t need it.”
Robertson said there’s always room for improvement, especially on serve and serve receive.
The one question that’s unanswered about Upland is how the Highlanders would do if the match was pushed beyond three sets. Upland has swept all 19 of its best-of-5 matches and the Highlanders’ only set and match losses came in tournaments in a best-ofthree format.
“We don’t know what it’s like to play a fourth or a fifth set,” Robertson said. “I hope we don’t have to find out.”