HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL : Unseeded Teams Rise to Occasion : Finals: Rancho Bernardo tops USDHS in five games to take 2-A title. Southwest sweeps Bonita Vista in 3-A.

Brian Busby was perfectly happy to stay at Mt. Carmel High School two years ago, but when Rancho Bernardo High opened, Busby lived in the wrong part of town.

The Junior Olympic setter changed schools and went through a frustrating season alongside former junior varsity hopefuls and leftovers. They won five games.

“It was like playing picnic ball,” Busby said. It was quite a comedown from the year before, when he played for a San Diego Section title with Mt. Carmel.

But Friday night, on his home court, Busby and his teammates made up for all the suffering.

Second-year Rancho Bernardo upset second-seeded University of San Diego High School, 10-15, 15-6, 15-13, 13-15, 15-10 in front of about 2,200 to claim the section 2-A boys’ volleyball title from the defending champion.

“I’d go through 900 of those (seasons) to go through this,” Busby, the team captain, said after leading the Broncos to victory in 2 hours 20 minutes. “To end your senior season like this makes it all worthwhile.”

Busby, who was the only player with previous varsity experience on the Broncos (14-3), got some help against the Dons (17-2).

Junior Matt Hyden had 37 kills, believed to be a championship match record in the 5-year-old sport. The official record is not listed in the section record book.

Another senior, Kirk Hipple, who transferred to Rancho Bernardo from nearby Poway, had 20 kills and 10 blocks to aid the winning effort.

USDHS Coach Michael Baykal said the Dons simply didn’t match up physically against the Broncos.

“We couldn’t stop (Hipple and Hyden),” he said. “They’re very physical. We didn’t do a good job of blocking. We played well, but they were too physical.”

Hipple is 6-foot-6 and Hyden is 6-4. USDHS’ biggest hitters were Scott Dylewski (6-1) and Chris Cote (6-2). Dylewski had 23 kills.

Winning coach Rob Sills was happy with the victory, but not completely satisfied with the performance.

“I’m surprised we didn’t play better,” he said. “That was one of our poorest performances in about five weeks.

“I’m upset that (we) thought the other team would roll over when they saw how big we were and hard we hit.”

That wasn’t the case at all. Had it not been for a number of USDHS hitting errors, the outcome might have been different.

“We played well, but they were just too physical for us,” Baykal said. “We got tired toward the end.”

Rancho Bernado nearly choked the match away in the fourth game. The Broncos blew a 10-7 lead and had a serving error after taking a 13-12 lead, one of seven service errors in the game. Then their hitting mistakes gave USDHS a 3-0 lead in Game 5.

“I think we were a little jittery,” Hipple said. “I knew if we could serve the ball in, we could overpower them.”

Hipple served the first seven points of Game 5. USDHS eventually pulled to 9-8, but the Broncos scored the next five points.

Rancho Bernardo, which beat the Nos. 1 and 4 seeds to reach the finals on their home court--they weren’t supposed to get that far--started five seniors. USDHS, which lost seven seniors from last year’s championship team, started only two.

“This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us,” Baykal said. “We’re young and inexperienced, so I’m very pleased.”

3-A Championship

Southwest d. Bonita Vista, 15-13, 15-6, 15-11--Bonita Vista Coach Jon Minich crowed about his team not getting any respect, either in the county or in the South Bay, even though the Barons won the Metro Conference title and entered the title game as the No. 2 seed.

Instead, the Barons were eating crow after falling to unseeded Southwest in three straight games in the first 3-A final that didn’t include two Palomar League schools.

Southwest got an outstanding team performance, committing only 10 errors on the night. Jesse Tayeron led the Raiders with 16 kills; Jerold Burrow had 14 and Leo Vargas 11.

Southwest Coach Fred Sills--who is no relation to Rancho Bernardo Coach Rob Sills--said he was not surprised his team swept the Barons.

“Earlier in the season we had a chance at a sweep and just didn’t put them away,” he said.

Bonita Vista was the only team to beat Southwest during the season--and its only loss was to the Raiders--but never really settled into a rhythm.

“We kept killing ourselves,” Minich said. “We lost the first game, 15-13, and had five or six serving errors. If we serve those balls in, we win and that affects the rest of the night.

“We didn’t play at the level we needed to play to be CIF champs.”

Neither team led by more than two points in the first game, but the loss took wind out of the Barons’ balloon in Game 2.

Game 3 took on the appearance of a rout, with Southwest leading 12-6, before Bonita Vista pulled to within 13-11.