NORWALK – Last year, Noah Dyer wasn’t on the court as the Saddleback Valley Christian boys volleyball team wrapped up the CIF-SS Division 5 title.
“It was a little bit frustrating,” Dyer said of last year’s final against La Quinta.
Dyer, who suffered an ankle injury late in that match, was on the court and leading the way Saturday as the Warriors captured their second consecutive Division 5 title, sweeping Garden Grove, 25-22, 25-13, 25-20, at Cerritos College.
“This is special for him,” SVC coach Ryan Van Rensselaer said of Dyer, a sophomore. “Not only is he the athletic talent leader, but he’s the emotional leader on the court. too.
“He really does a great job of not only speaking words of encouragement to the guys, (and also) not making them feel tense …I didn’t have to say a word.”
The top-seeded Warriors (33-3) were taking on a Garden Grove team that had lost just two matches all season and was motivated by trying to avenge a loss to SVC in last year’s semifinals.
After winning the first two sets, the Warriors fell behind, 8-5, in the third set. They took the lead for good at 12-11 on a kill from Zack Sherwood.
Dyer finished with 11 kills and 17 assists. Jon Minsberg led SVC with 12 kills and also had 14 assists.
“The key this year has been that our teamwork has been amazing,” Dyer said. “We really work well together as a team and we’re super good friends and that’s a main reason.
“We still have two seniors, our libero (Brandon Green) and our outside (Torrey Karlsen), but we have a bunch of new guys, and they’re really focused on volleyball and that helped us transition from losing the guys (from last year).”
Alec Jimenez and Karlsen had five kills apiece. Mario Soto had four kills and three blocks.
“They knew the other team was going to be athletic and a have a good offense,” Van Rennselaer said, “but we were able to stay unified and steady throughout the entire match.”
Arturo Alday led the Argonauts (22-3) with 15 kills. Sione Masoe added eight kills.
This was Garden Grove’s first trip to the CIF finals.
The Warriors move on to the CIF Southern California Regionals. They will be in Division III. The pairings will be announced today. Last year, they went 1-1 in the regionals, losing to Francis Parker of San Diego in the semifinals.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
