DIVISIONS II, III VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : Esperanza Sweeps Past Upland; No. 1 Royal Next

Esperanza kept the errors to a minimum while sweeping Upland, 15-10, 15-7, 15-1, in the Southern Section Division II semifinals Wednesday night at El Dorado High.

The victory set up a rematch with No. 1 Simi Valley Royal, which needed five games to beat Esperanza in last year’s final.

“We’ve done our homework, and put in our time,” Aztec Coach Kirt Kersten said. “It’s been a great season so far, but we want to win it this year. Besides, we’ve already played Foothill twice this season (and won).”

Upland, ranked third, had not lost a match this season or a game in the playoffs. No. 2 Esperanza (17-1) was undefeated in the Empire League for the third consecutive year. The non-league loss was to Capistrano Valley, which will face Huntington Beach in the Division I final.

The Scots (19-1) took a 7-1 lead in the first game off six Aztec errors and a team block, so Kersten called a timeout to calm his team. “We were a little nervous, a little shaky at first,” he said. “I told them to settle down.”

Esperanza regrouped, went on a five-point run to make it 9-8, then tied it again, 10-10, and went on a 4-0 run. Fred Cruz was called for a double hit to end the game.

“It’s tough when you play it away,” Upland Coach Randy Ittner said. “We needed to win that first game--if we had, I think it would have gone five (games) and we could have won.

“When we had the early lead, we made a few errors, and once they came back we lost the momentum.”

Upland took 20 minutes to gain a 5-3 advantage in the second game. Esperanza later settled down, coming up with 23 kills to Upland’s 13, and five team blocks to Upland’s two.

But the Aztecs found their rhythm in Game 3, making no hitting errors in 12 attempts. In that time, Upland had no blocks. Esperanza made only one ball-handling error to Upland’s seven. Esperanza, led by Paul Nihipali’s 18 kills, out-hit Upland, 45-28.

In the other Division II game:

Simi Valley Royal 3, Foothill 0--Rich Lambourne and Matt Gerard each had 15 kills for the visiting Knights (14-3), who lost, 15-13, 15-9, 15-12. Royal is 20-0.

In Division III:

Whittier Christian 3, Santa Ynez 0--The Heralds advanced to the finals with a 15-8, 16-14, 15-5 victory. Whittier Christian will play Bellflower St. John Bosco, which beat Cerritos Valley Christian, 15-11, 17-15, 15-7. The final is 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.