Pirates top Cardinals in thrilling, 5-set final

SCCAL BOYS VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

Despite loss, SC is No. 2 in CCS Open; No. 2 Harbor, No. 5 Soquel in D-II

Harbor High libero Abe Schmidt lunges to make a psss against Santa Cruz during the SCCAL Boys Volleyball Tournament championship at Cabrillo College on Friday.

Harbor High’s Josh Rejfir reacts after scoring against Santa Cruz during the SCCAL Boys Volleyball Tournament championship at Cabrillo College on Friday. PHOTOS BY JOHN LEE — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Image

By Jim Seimas

jseimas@santacruzsentinel.com

APTOS >> After suffering a pair of losses to unbeaten Santa Cruz High during the regular season, Harbor’s boys volleyball team finally broke through in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Tournament championship.

The No. 2 seed Pirates knocked off the No. 1 Cardinals in a five-set thriller, 25-17, 25-23, 16-25, 20-25, 16-14, in the final at Cabrillo College on Friday night.

“I’m so dang proud of my kids,” Pirates coach Kendall Ronzano said.

A solid start and gutsy finish were enough to carry the Pirates, who finished second to Cardinals in the regular season.

The Pirates (27-5 overall, 8-2 SCCAL) leaned on senior outside hitter Noah Luksich, junior right side Cooper Lastition, and junior outside hitter Josh Rejfir for its offensive fireworks. Senior libero Abe Schmidt added a handful of aces to his season total, which now totals more than 50.

Rejfir recorded the match winning kill and the Pirates went bonkers.

“What a team effort,” Ronzano said. “There’s not one superstar; they all know to lean on each other.”

Ronzano also praised the efforts of her sophomore setter, Eddie Weaver, and Schmidt for his passing from the back row.

Santa Cruz (31-4, 10-0) was paced by stars Julien “Juju” Pally and Gammon Nilssen, the defending SCCAL MVP.

Santa Cruz beat Harbor in four sets in their first meeting March 27 and in five sets on April 29.

Both teams advanced to the Central Coast Section playoffs. The seeding meeting took place Saturday morning and the first round of action begins Monday evening.

Santa Cruz earned the No. 2 seed in the Open Division and hosts No. 7 Los Gatos (18-10) in the first round. The winner of Monday’s 6 p.m. match faces either No. 6 Saint Francis (21-12) or Mountain View or No. 3 Bellarmine (20-15) in Thursday’s semifinals.

In other Open quarterfinals, No. 5 Homestead plays at No. 4 Harker (24-7) and No. 8 Valley Christian (18-15) plays at No. 1 Archbishop Mitty (32-2).

Harbor earned the No. 2 seed in Division II and will play a home match in Tuesday’s quarterfinals against the winner of No. 7 Burlingame (24-7) and No. 10 Christopher (22-9).

Only one other team received a first-round bye in D-II, No. 1 Sacred Heart Cathedral (22-11) of San Francisco.

Soquel (14-13) qualified for the No. 5 seed in D-II and hosts No. 12 Summit Shasta (16-10) in the first round on Monday at 6 p.m.

If the Knights win their opener, they’ll face either No. 4 Monta Vista (22-12) of Cupertino or No. 13 University Prep (18-7) in the second round on Tuesday.