When a hitter gets hot in volleyball, it almost doesn’t matter what the opposing block does.

Archbishop Mitty’s William Dryden approached that level on Saturday during the Central Coast Section Open Division championship match at Harker.

Facing St. Francis, the Monarchs called upon Dryden 42 times to finish off a point. And he came through 22 times, keying Mitty’s early two-set lead against its West Catholic Athletic League rival.

After dropping the third set, Mitty was able to finish off a 25-18, 25-17, 23-25, 28-26 victory over the Lancers for its first boys volleyball section title since 2013.

The result was validation for the Monarchs, who had beaten every team they faced in the Open bracket at least once this year.

“This whole season, we’ve been dominant,” said Dryden, who is committed to UC Santa Barbara. “We’ve beaten every team. We’ve beaten (St. Francis) three times, so it just felt how it should be. And then in that third set, we kind of crumbled a little bit. But we got back on it.”

Mitty (37-2) has sustained success despite coach Lacey Gera’s maternity leave midseason. Assistant coach Gregg Gallegos stepped in, and the Monarchs didn’t miss a beat.

Both teams are in this week’s CIF NorCal regionals. In the first round of the Division I playoffs on Tuesday, Mitty, the top seed, will host No. 8 Oak Ridge (29-4) and No. 6 St. Francis will play No. 3 Clovis East. Both WCAL teams are aiming to advance to California’s first state championships in boys volleyball, with the Division I final on May 31.

“We’ve been peaking at the right time,” Gallegos said. “We’re playing really good volleyball right now. Excited for NorCals, but it’s been a great season so far.”

Mitty is a powerhouse in seemingly just about every sport, but it had been over a decade since the Monarchs had even made a CCS final in boys volleyball. Last year, Mitty lost 3-1 to Santa Cruz in the Open semifinals.

This year’s group wasn’t going to be denied.

“We have a very — most of the time – very mature group of guys, so they make it easy on me, and they’re just totally invested,” Gallegos said. “They know that this season can be really special. They work super hard, and they totally deserve everything.”

Junior Oscar Klement played a supplementary role for the Monarchs, finishing 11 kills with an efficient .368 hitting average. Despite Dryden’s starring role, it was a true team effort for Mitty, a talented group on a mission to forge a new legacy.

“We know that we can go out and beat literally any team, no matter what,” Dryden said.

Division I

Leigh wasn’t sure it could do it again. The Longhorns won the CCS Division I championship in 2024. But that was a senior-laden group, with several four-year players leading the way.

This Leigh team is much younger. But the result was the same as the Longhorns earned a hard-fought 17-25, 26-24. 25-20, 24-26, 15-6 victory over Branham in the D-I title game on Saturday at Harker.

“I’ve coached a lot of these kids — I’ve been their teacher in middle school,” Leigh coach Jeff Argabright said. “I work out there at the feeder school, and I coached the middle school team there when a lot of these guys were there, so I’ve been with them since they were like 11.”

Leigh built a quick 3-0 lead in the fifth set and stretched its early advantage to 5-1, then 8-3. After allowing Branham to cut the deficit to 9-6, the Bruins never scored again as Leigh finished the set on a 6-0 run.

“Branham gave us everything we can handle, and they put it on us game one,” Argabright said. “We could easily have folded.”

Senior Cooper Smith, the Longhorns’ lone returning starter, led Leigh with 22 kills. Junior Henry Chen, who recovered from a compound leg fracture in the offseason, added 12 kills in a supplementary role.

In the first round of the Division III regional playoffs on Tuesday, Leigh, the top seed, will host No. 8 Washington-Fremont, and fourth-seeded Branham will face No. 5 Ripon Christian.

Top seed Harbor-Santa Cruz won the CCS Division II boys volleyball final over No. 4 Monta Vista, taking the championship match 25-20, 25-11, 25-15.

Harbor (30-5) received the No. 6 seed in the Division II regional playoffs and will face No. 3 Del Oro in Tuesday’s first round. Monta Vista (24-13) received the No. 3 seed in Division III and will face No. 6 Redwood in Tuesday’s first round.

CCS girls LACROSSE Division I

No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep 10, No. 1 St. Ignatius 8: The Gators (19-2) knocked off top seed SI (17-5) on Saturday to capture their first CCS championship since 2021. Mollie Pepper led SHP with five goals, with Kat Dykes scoring two, and Olivia Abbott, Lily Selcher and Noa Katz each adding one. Abbott also had a team-leading four assists, Skyler Schramm had two, and Lily Selcher had one. Goalie Ella Caplice made five saves in the Gators’ victory. As CIF lacrosse does not currently have a regional or state championship, both teams’ seasons have come to an end. SHP finishes with a 19-2 record; SI stands at 17-5.

Division II

No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 14, No. 2 Los Altos 9: Mitty claimed its first section title in the brief history of CCS lacrosse. Ashton Allard led the way with four goals, followed by Gabriella Vaccaro with two. Kylie O’Brien, Ardyn Mittleman, Ciena Neditch and Renée Velasco also got on the score sheet for the Monarch, who finished the year at 7-10. Los Altos finished 13-7.

CCS boys LACROSSE Division I

No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep 8, No. 1 St. Ignatius 7: After a dominant run through the section tournament, SHP (17-7) earned a close win over St. Ignatius (21-4) to claim its first CCS lacrosse title since 2021. SHP beat No. 7 Stevenson 13-4 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 St. Francis 16-4 in the semifinals.

Division II

No. 6 Archbishop Mitty 14, No. 1 Palo Alto 6: Mitty led 8-4 at halftime and took over in the second half. Ryan Yun scored three goals and Elliott Hopkins, Austin Yeaman and Tanner Fast each had two. Grant Siripoke and Harrison Zmijewski also got on the scoresheet for Mitty (8-12). Palo Alto finished 12-8.