Rancho volleyball team hopes togetherness translates to success

Rancho’s Ryan Hafen and Lamont Traylor each played an integral part in helping the boys basketball team make its first playoff appearance in nine years in February.

Now the two are looking to use that experience to help the Rams’ volleyball team advance past the opening round of playoffs for the first time in five years on Tuesday.

Rancho (17-8), the Southeast League’s No. 2 seed, will meet Northeast No. 3 Liberty (13-12) at 3:40 p.m. in the first round of the Sunrise Region tournament at Las Vegas High.

The Sunrise and Sunset Region — being played at Legacy — matches start at 2 p.m.

“We’re really looking to get our first banner up for boys volleyball because we don’t have any,” said Traylor, a 6-foot-5-inch junior middle blocker.

Rancho, which swept Liberty in all three meetings this season, is making its seventh playoff trip in the last eight seasons under coach Allegra Derzon. The Rams, though, haven’t advanced out of the first round since sweeping Del Sol on May 11, 2010.

“We’re just going to play our hardest and try to win,” said Hafen, a 6-0 senior outside hitter. “That’s our goal. We’re going to play our game and hopefully get the ‘W.’”

The Rams, who missed the playoffs a season ago, now believe they are ready to make some noise.

“I’ve got a group here that loves to play the game and just is very driven,” Derzon said. “I’ve had teams like that in the past, but these guys, there’s something about them. They just know how to win. They have a recipe for winning close matches.”

Junior setter Douglas Candido attributes the success to a change in team chemistry.

“Last year, we didn’t exactly have as close of a bond,” he said. “We kind of had problems within ourselves, but now we put that all aside. We’ve started to really understand each other.”

Added Traylor: “Maybe it’s because our family bonding-type things. We’ll go swimming together; we’ll go eat together; we’ll go hang out together. Everything is together. We’re all close. It’s something I’d like to carry over to basketball (next season).”

Without a clear-cut favorite in the Sunrise Region this season, Rancho will have its opportunity to make a splash.

Hafen, the longest-tenured varsity player at three years, will play the lead role. Despite not having the eye-popping numbers like other outside hitters in town, Derzon said its Hafen who’s the undisputed leader and the glue that brings everyone together.

“He knows how to lead,” she said. “He may not have the numbers — all the kills that Lamont or Martin (Rodriguez) has — but his teammates just respond to him. After you talk to him, you believe every single word he says without hesitation, without doubt.”

Hafen also understands the importance of team chemistry and is the first to set up team-bonding events, like water volleyball or Rock Band at his house.

Derzon said it’s that fun-loving atmosphere that makes the team special.

“These guys have fun together,” Derzon said. “It’s more than just a job, it’s their passion. They love doing it together. They all buy into it. (Ryan’s) a good leader because he facilitates things like that.”

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.