The San Lorenzo Valley High boy’s volleyball team looked dominant at times, but could not sustain strong play and fell 3-1 to Soquel High in the second round of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tournament on April 30.
“Against any other team, I would know what to expect,” senior Zak Beltz said. “Soquel, I don’t know. We are pretty evenly matched.”
Soquel came out firing from the get-go and took an early seven point lead on the way to a 25-17 win in the first game.
The second game was much of the same, with Soquel jumping out to a 7-1 lead. However, strong play at the net by Kyle Todd and Beltz and a couple of well-placed balls by Jared Payne rallied the Cougars back to 15-13 before finally falling to the Knights, 25-21.
The third game was a different story. With Alex Parker serving, the Cougars went up 4-0 and never looked back.
With Beltz serving, the Cougars pushed the lead to 16-3 and went on to win the game, 25-17.
But Soquel’s Chris Roberto had a game-high 13 kills and dominated the fourth game, which Soquel won, 25-17.
The Knights moved onto the finals against Harbor High.
Todd had a strong all-around game for the Cougars, serving four aces while collecting five blocks, seven kills and three digs.
Parker had 31 assists in the losing effort, and Beltz had a team-high 11 kills.
The Cougars will wait to see if their 14-11-1 record, including 6-4 in the SCCAL, is good enough for an at-large bid to the Central Coast Section tournament. The CCS seeding is taking place Saturday, May 9.
“I think we could win a game or two if we play well,” Beltz said.
Scotts Valley fell in the first round of the league tournament 3-2 to Aptos High.
In that contest, Ryan Morano led the team with 37 kills, and Eric Brager had 45 assists.
Scotts Valley finished 8-16 overall and 3-9 in league.
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