Spikers beat Patrick Henry, lose to Hilltop

Ramona High School’s boys volleyball team, seeded 12th among the 12 teams qualifying for the CIF Division II playoffs, won a five-game match at fifth-seeded Patrick Henry before losing in five games at fourth-seeded Hilltop.

“It was a gratifying way to go out,” said coach Kyle Adelman. “They were playing their best volleyball later in the season, and as a coach you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

The Bulldogs’ final overall record, including the two playoff matches, is 18-20. The matches during Avocado East League play resulted in a 5-3 record, giving Ramona second place in the final standings.

Two of Ramona’s three league losses involved the maximum possible five games, including a May 2 home loss against San Pasqual. On May 4 Ramona swept San Pasqual in three games to hand the Golden Eagles their only league loss of the season. Ramona’s final home match of 2016 was a three-game victory May 3 against San Marcos.

Ramona had not seen Patrick Henry play prior to the playoff match on May 11.

“We didn’t have any idea what to expect,” Adelman said. “They turned out to be a really strong team.”

Patrick Henry won the first game, 25-22, while Ramona won game two by an identical score. The Patriots prevailed by a 27-25 margin in the third game, but that did not affect the Bulldogs mentally.

“Our confidence was pretty high,” Adelman said. “It showed in game four. We came out on fire.”

Ramona’s 25-13 victory in the fourth game forced the deciding fifth set to 15 points. Ramona took a 13-7 lead, but the Patriots then scored 6 consecutive points to tie the contest. The Bulldogs scored the final 2 points of the match with a block by Casey Buggeln sending the ball to the floor for the final time.

“We were trading blow for blow pretty much the entire match,” Adelman said.

Outside hitter Armando Abarca had 33 kills in the five games against the Patriots.

“He had a career offensive day,” Adelman said. “He really carried us in that one.”

May 14 was the day of Ramona’s prom, so the starting time of the quarterfinal was changed to 1 p.m. Ramona’s game plan was to focus on key Hilltop players.

“We did a pretty good job of that,” Adelman said.

The Lancers began the match with a 25-20 triumph. Ramona countered with a 25-15 victory. Hilltop won the third game by a 25-21 margin.

During the fourth game the Lancers took a 24-17 lead to obtain match point with a 7-point advantage, but the Bulldogs then scored the next 9 points and eventually captured a 27-25 victory.

“It was an unbelievable run,” Adelman said. “I’ve never seen anybody come back from that and win.”

Hilltop overcame a 12-7 Ramona lead in the fifth game for a 15-13 victory. The five-game loss was the fifth of the season for Ramona, who won two matches that went the maximum five sets.

“It was only fitting for us to take our last match of the season to five,” Adelman said.

Adelman noted that the 12th-seeded Bulldogs defeated the fifth-seeded team and lost by the narrowest of margins to the fourth-seeded squad.

“What they did was something really special,” he said.