Victory never tasted sweeter for the St. Matthew’s 7th and 8th-grade boys volleyball team than it did last Thursday when the Falcons captured the Delphic League’s A-Division championship by dethroning host Calvary Christian, 25-18, 20-25, 17-15, which was seeking its fifth straight title. It was the third match of the season between the schools (Calvary Christian won the first two) and marked the third year in a row the teams met in the finals.
Photo: Reynaldo Macias
A four-point service run by Peter Sykes gave the Falcons a 16-13 lead in the first set and Calvary Christian never got closer. Connor Bellitti (four kills, one ace, two blocks), Xander Klein (three kills) and Kevin Mardirossian (two kills) led the offense, orchestrated by setter Andrew Bagnard. Libero Ryan Pecsok anchored a solid defense with the help of Trey White and Will Bowlin, and added two aces.
Four kills from Mardirossian, three from Klein and two from Sykes were not enough to prevent the Cougars from evening the match to force a decisive third set that featured eight ties and four lead changes.
Pecsok’s four-point serving run, highlighted by Mardirossian and Klein kills and a stuff block by Klein and Bagnard, gave the Falcons a 14-10 lead. However, the Cougars staved off four match points to pull even before Mardirossian’s spike made it 15-14 St. Matthew’s. The Cougars hit off a block to tie it again but a service error gave St. Matthew’s another championship point and this time they capitalized when a Cougars spike attempt landed inches out.
“It was a huge win for us because they beat us twice, but the boys really wanted it,” St. Matthew’s Coach Jason Ward said. “Andrew [Bagnard] runs the offense and Ryan [Pecsok] runs the defense and everyone knew their roles.”
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
The next day, Calvary Christian’s 7th-grade squad got revenge by sweeping St. Matthew’s 25-17, 25-20 to win the Pacific Basin League’s B-Division title.
St. Matthew’s was led by 6th-grade setter, Parker Bowlin, the defense of libero Griffin Bonesteel and the offense of outside hitter Daniel Leonard.
Calvary Christian was led by setter Kenny Minchin and outside hitters Chase Branigan and Andrew McCoy. Rounding out Coach Chris Baele’s squad were defensive specialist Hayden Sheifele, outside hitter Alex Knight, opposite hitters Stewart Cox and Graham Brittain and middle blockers Timmy Ellis and Loya Martin.
“We talked beforehand about how important this was for school pride,” Baele said. “Yesterday left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.”
In the PBL’s team tennis playoffs, St. Matthew’s reached the semifinals behind Will Weinbach, Sophie Globe, Goeffrey Belden, Isabel Bellitti and Claire Wiegand.
In the Pacific Basin League Golf finals at The Lakes in El Segundo, Will Weinbach was fifth out of 64 players and St. Matthew’s finished third out of eight teams overall with a score of 221, behind only Windward (196) and Brentwood (213),
In the Pacific Basin League Co-Ed Track & Field Championships at Brentwood, the Falcons took fourth place out of 12 girls teams and eighth place out of 13 boys teams.
Grace Gruber was second in the high jump, Chelsea Worrell was third in the shot put, Nico Chapus took third in the high jump and Ava O’Connor was third in the 1,600 meters.
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