HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION SEMIFINAL : Osterhoudt Leads Royal to 3-A Final

Royal High overcame a mental letdown and an inspired challenge from Crespi on Tuesday night to advance to the Southern Section 3-A Division boys’ volleyball final with a 15-5, 15-6, 16-18, 15-10 victory.

The host Highlanders (21-0) will face the winner of tonight’s Harvard-Westlake/Esperanza match in Saturday’s final.

Led by Brett Osterhoudt with 18 kills, Steve Hodge with 13 and Kerry White with 11, the Highlanders recovered from third-game doldrums and advanced to a section final for the fourth straight year.

Royal won 2-A titles in 1989 and 1990 before losing to Harvard-Westlake in the 3-A championship match last year.

“When you play a good team, you give them a little edge and they will come back on you,” Royal Coach Bob Ferguson said.

Royal was its usual dominating self in the first two games, needing only 30 minutes to take a 2-0 lead in games. Relying on strong defensive play and the combination of setter Travis Ferguson (47 assists) and middle blockers White and Josh Penrod, the Highlanders seemed poised to record their 20th sweep in 21 matches.

The Highlanders were particularly successful in shutting down Crespi hitter Mike Lees. Lees, who led the Celts with 67 kills in two wins last week, was held without a kill until late in the third game and finished with only five.

“We took (Lees) away from them,” Bob Ferguson said. “But they were able to adjust in the third and fourth games.”

Royal led, 6-1, in the third game when Crespi caught fire behind the hitting of Billy Rojas and some inspired defensive play.

“It was like night and day between the first two games and the last two games,” Crespi Coach Kevin Slattum said. “I knew they would try to stop Mike. We talked about running a quicker offense, but it took us some time to do it.”

Both sides wasted several game points before Crespi finally won the third game on a pair of Royal errors.

“Crespi turned it on and we were not ready to keep up with them,” Travis Ferguson said.

But the Highlanders were able to keep the fourth game close and finally pulled away after an 8-8 tie. Osterhoudt led the charge with seven kills, including the match-winner.

“If we had won the fourth game, I think it could have been real interesting,” Slattum said. “The difference was Travis Ferguson. No matter where they got the ball, he got it to the hitters.”

Ferguson came into the match with a slightly sprained ankle and re-injured it in a tangle under the net with a Crespi player in game three. But after the ankle was retaped, he was able to continue playing at the same effective level.