Saddleback Valley Christian captures fifth CIF title, defeating Oak Park in four sets

Saddleback Valley Christian players and coaches celebrate with a CIF championship trophy Saturday (Photos courtesy Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone)

Saddleback Valley Christian’s boys volleyball team had a much better result than a year ago in the CIF Division 2 finals Saturday night at Cerritos College.

The Warriors (32-4) captured their fifth CIF crown in seven years, defeating Oak Park in four sets.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

The Warriors won 25-19, 25-22, 13-25, 25-14. SVC finished second to Orange Lutheran last season.

“We really went after it this season because last season we came in second in CIF and it was a real bummer,” said senior George Dyer, who had 12 kills and 12 digs to lead SVC. “So we put our heads to the grindstone after it and went after it and we finally overcome that mountain and came over and got a CIF victory, so we’re really excited.”

Saddleback Valley Christian also got a strong performance from freshman Andrew Sheveland, who had 13 kills and sophomore Gabe Dyer, who had 10 kills.

Saddleback Valley Christian from San Juan Capistrano has had quite a run in boys volleyball, advancing to the finals five of the last six seasons.

Now, the 2019 team will have a special part of history.

“It’s huge, because now they know they belong,” said Coach Ryan Van Rensselaer. “We’re smaller than everybody, we have less kids and if we really unify and we’re for each other and we play for that great purpose, then we can play with anybody.

“It’s neat for them to see them come alive. They will remember this for the rest of their lives.”

Oak Park (27-12) was led by Justin Stone with 17 kills. Luke Spooner had 13 digs and Kelly Majam 10 digs.

–Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com