PREP VOLLEYBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS : Tustin Makes Eighth-Grade Title Declaration Come True

Tustin’s four-game victory over Calvary Chapel in the Southern Section Division II boys’ volleyball final was four years in the making.

Senior Curtis Jackson had 23 kills and four blocks to lead the top-seeded Tillers to a 15-4, 13-15, 15-2, 17-15 victory Saturday at Cypress College. The victory gives Tustin its first section volleyball title.

Although this championship stuff is new to the Tillers (20-1), they had a feeling about this one.

“I told Curtis that we’d win it back in the eighth grade,” said Tustin senior Donnie Rafter, who had 14 kills and two blocks. “This is great.”

Winning the title was a little more difficult than the Tillers expected after they raced to an early lead. Calvary Chapel (16-4) came within an eyelash of sending the match to a fifth game.

After Tustin drew even, 15-15, Aaron Kraus blocked Aaron Fountain to make it 16-15 in the fourth game. Rafter then blocked Fountain for match point.

“In the clutch, defense is what matters most,” Rafter said.

Said Jackson: “Late in the fourth game when we were down, we told each other, ‘We need to finish it right now.’

“I don’t think we played a five-game match all year and we were getting tired. Plus, playing in the finals is even more emotionally and physically draining. We wanted to end it.”

The Tillers started the match by polishing off the third-seeded Eagles, 15-4. Tustin had three service errors and only one other unforced error in the game.

“They played a perfect first game,” Calvary Chapel Coach Chuck Wright said. “There’s no way we can stay with them if they play like that. But in the second and fourth games they made a few more errors and that allowed us to stay in it.”

Calvary Chapel rallied in the second game behind Robert Schildts, who had six of his team-high 19 kills in the game.

The score was tied, 13-13, but Schildts spiked for a kill from the left side, Jackson had a hitting error, and Jason Mandall’s game-clinching kill evened the match.

Two hitting errors by Rafter gave Calvary Chapel a 2-1 lead in the third game, but the Eagles didn’t score again in the game. Tustin won 14 consecutive points and closed out the third game in 15 minutes.

However, it wasn’t a sign of things to come.

Schildts had seven kills in the fourth game. With the help of Fountain (11 kills) and Mandall, Calvary Chapel kept pace.

Tustin led, 10-8, in the fourth game but Calvary Chapel scored five of the next six points. Tustin rallied to tie it, 13-13. Then Schildts put Calvary Chapel on the brink of winning the game and forcing a fifth game.

Schildts dinked for a side out, then he blocked Jackson to give Calvary Chapel a game point, 14-13. But Jackson answered Schildts with a spike from the left side for a side out.

Schildts had another kill to give the Eagles their second game point, but Jackson erased that one with a kill for a side out. Jackson had 10 kills in the fourth game.

“When Curtis gets in a zone, it doesn’t matter who he goes up against,” Tustin Coach Ken Koci said. “This has been a great group of guys. They’ve worked together for four years for this. Hopefully, the Tustin program is here to stay.”