Crescenta Valley High boys’ volleyball can’t hold on against South Torrance

LA CRESCENTA — Aspirations of reaching the Pacific League Varsity Invitational boys’ volleyball tournament championship ended for Crescenta Valley High’s blue team Friday evening.

The Falcons’ short-handed split squad was defeated by visiting, late-arriving South Torrance, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 in Friday afternoon’s tournament quarterfinals.

With the victory, South Torrance (5-4) earned advancement to the tournament semifinals Saturday and will face either West Ranch or the Crescenta Valley white team at 11 a.m. at Burroughs High.

The defeat is the first for the Falcons (3-1) this season and dropped the squad into the consolation bracket semifinals at 11 a.m. at Burbank, with a likely opponent being the Crescenta Valley white team.

“That’s not exactly what we were looking for,” Crescenta Valley Coach John Nelson said, “but if that’s who we’ll have to play, then we’ll play ourselves.”

As for Friday, the Falcons found themselves rallying all night.

Down, 2-1, entering the fourth game, the Falcons looked finished as the Spartans scored seven of the game’s first eight points and took a 7-1 lead on a Crescenta Valley attacking error.

To their credit, the Falcons fought back and pulled within 19-18 on a kill from senior opposite hitter Samuel Lim (11 kills and two blocks).

On Crescenta Valley’s next possession, the Falcons just missed connecting on a backrow kill that was ruled out of play.

Instead of tying, the Falcons instead fell behind, 20-18, and never recovered.

South Torrance eventually scored five of the game’s last six points and won on an ace from setter Kohl Kutsch.

“We just made too many mistakes today,” said Crescenta Valley senior Ray Barsemian, who finished with 15 kills and two aces. “Every time we made a run or got back into the game, we’d make an error to just kill us.”

In the third game, Crescenta Valley trailed by three late before a kill from Barsemian brought the Falcons within 21-19.

Yet, true to Barsemian’s words, the Falcons committed a service error on their subsequent possession followed by a defensive error that gave the Spartans a 23-19 lead. South Torrance won the set, 25-21, on a kill from Chase Ceballos (nine kills and two blocks).

Crescenta Valley’s critical service error wasn’t an outlier, but part of a pattern for a team that committed 16 service errors.

“There are going to be some days where you’re on and some days where you’re off your serve,” Nelson said. “On the days you’re off, you have to be able to adjust and control your serve. When our two best servers were having trouble, we were in trouble.”

Crescenta Valley’s highlight came in the first game, as the Falcons trailed, 10-5, before rallying to pull even at 14 with South Torrance, which arrived to the match 40 minutes late.

With the game tied at 18, the Falcons created separation with a single kill each from Barsemian and John Tae and a Spartans’ attacking error that gave the home team a 21-18 advantage.

Even though the Falcons followed with a service error, the team closed out a 25-23 win on a South Torrance error.

As for the second game, Crescenta Valley trailed, 22-21, when the Falcons committed another service error.

The gaffe was followed by an attacking error that served as fuel for the Spartans, who won, 25-22.

Falcons senior outside hitter Kim Min added 14 kills, while Reid Campbell chipped in seven kills for Crescenta Valley, which played eight players.

“I hope we learned a lot from playing this match,” Nelson said. “We played a very good opponent who played at a high level. This is the sort of challenge that only makes your team better.”