Staff Writer
Photos by Tucker Judkins
Boys’ varsity volleyball swept their CIF playoff debut against Norco High School at home, last Tuesday May 10. South Pas clinched the matchup with set scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16.
Sophomore Cole Schroeder scored the first point of the game after claiming an ace over the Cougars. The Tigers quickly gained the advantage on the court after a kill by senior Matthew Ng set the tone of the match. A few possessions later, senior Alex Nakagawa chalked up his first point of of an ace for a 6-2 lead. Senior Greg Luck supplied several kills on offense to set the score to 14-7 with South Pas taking an authoritative lead over the Cougars. From here, Norco would produce only 6 more points against the lockdown Tiger defense led by Nakagawa. South Pas continued its dominance in the set to secure a 25-13 set win.
Returning into the second set, South Pas showed no signs of slowing down on offense. Junior Lucas Fox kickstarted the set with a kill over the Norco blockers to take the intensity on the court. Luck provided key minutes on the court to help to Tigers amass a 9-5 lead over the Cougars. Ng chalked up a kill followed by an ace to force a Noroc timeout, with the score at 19-12. This would have no effect on the Tigers performance as the team would close out the set with a score of 25-14.
Junior Matt Scholtz started the third set with back-to-back kills to maintain the Tiger’s dominance over Norco, allowing South Pas to claim another quick lead over the Cougars. Luck once again led the Tigers to a 14-6 lead over the frustrated Cougars. From here, South Pas reserves began to rotate in the lineup to gain playing time in the matchup and capped off the night with a 25-16 victory.
“This game boosted our confidence and will give us more momentum coming into the next game as we played together,” Ng said.
South Pasadena will face off against the winner of the Simi Valley/Canyon matchup away on Thursday, May 12.
