DIVISION I-A VOLLEYBALL: Injured teammate Ho never far from Dragons’ thoughts

Del Sol boys volleyball coach John Cress wasn’t sure how his team would perform in the Division I-A state playoffs after losing standout junior Kalai Ho to a torn anterior cruciate ligament last weekend.

He quickly found out in the first set Monday.

The second-seeded Dragons asserted their dominance from the opening serve en route to a 25-18, 27-25, 25-18 sweep of No. 3 Sierra Vista in the Division I-A state quarterfinals at Chaparral High School.

Del Sol (12-4) will face Mojave (25-3) at 5 p.m. today in the semifinals at Chaparral.

“I grouped up my team members and made them realize what we’re actually playing for,” senior outside hitter La’akea Cabanas said. “Before the game, we came together and realized this game was for (Ho).

“We took it to heart that we lost a key player to our rotation. We just dedicated everything, our hearts, to him.”

Cabanas, who spent time with Ho after the injury, made a point to keep his team in good spirits and remained the vocal leader throughout all three sets.

He served an untouched ace for the first point of the match, and had four kills, three aces, four digs and five assists in the first set. The Dragons stormed to a 10-2 lead, never trailed and led by as many as 10 points in the set.

“That really set the tone,” Cress said. “The guys came out playing smart and with a lot of effort.”

Sierra Vista (9-15) had a five-point lead in the second set and led 24-21 before the Dragons rallied.

Del Sol scored three consecutive points, two on Sierra Vista errors, to tie the score. The teams then alternated points before the Dragons scored the next two on an ace by Jay Peete and block by Nick Ayala to take a 2-0 lead.

“When it came down to 24-21, the mentality was, ‘Let them make the mistakes,’ ” Cress said. “We just played within ourselves and let them make mistakes.”

Del Sol promptly took the third set, with the match-winning kill coming from Jared Moreda, who finished with 13 kills and six blocks.

“That (second set) gave us even more momentum,” Cabanas said. “Playing Sierra Vista — a great team — we were shocked to go 3-and-0. That momentum pushed us forward.”

Blane Quitog had two blocks, two aces and 10 kills, and Anthony Nehme eight kills and eight blocks for Del Sol, which received a few words from Cress before the final set.

“I asked them how many sets they wanted this to go to,” Cress said. “And, again, that comes back to motivation. Do you want to keep playing and keep giving them chances, or do you want to play your best and end it right here? They did what we asked them to do.”

Chris McCoy led Sierra Vista with 11 kills and two digs. Nik Fava had eight kills and three digs, John Chou 19 digs and Brendan Cowden 21 assists.

Clark 3, Chaparral 1 – Henok Mucheye’s 13 kills and five blocks led the Chargers to a 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16 win over the Cowboys.

Walt Benda had seven kills and 10 digs, and Walter Regalado added 33 assists and two aces for Clark, which also got 11 digs from Danny Pedroza.

Clark (13-4) will play Tech (12-4) at 7 p.m Tuesday in the other semifinal.

Isai Barrios led Chaparral with 16 kills and seven digs. Jose Chavez contributed 11 kills and eight digs, and Ezequiel Borrero had 23 assists and eight digs for the Cowboys (6-9).

Mojave 3, Desert Pines 0 — Jordan Glenn and Absalon Williams each had seven kills and two blocks to power the Rattlers by the Jaguars, 25-9, 25-12, 25-14.

Jason Zambrano had 24 assists and five aces, and Danny Wilson recorded three aces and two digs for Mojave.

Ortega Wiltz had three kills and three digs to lead Desert Pines. Angel Rocha had seven digs, and Estanislao Lansangan added seven assists for the Jaguars (4-11).

Tech 3, Western 0 — Josh Wood had seven kills, six digs, two aces and 15 assists to help the Roadrunners sweep the Warriors, 25-18, 25-13, 25-21.

Bryant Pochop notched nine kills and four digs, and Eric Sebastian added 16 assists for Tech, which also got 11 digs from Ethan Gray.

Kristopher Poole had six kills, and Williams Riggs had 16 assists for Western (5-12).