Late Royal Wakes Up to Defeat Quartz Hill

Royal High showed up late for the match. So did its desire to win.

Royal struggled early against Quartz Hill before winning a Southern Section Division I boys’ volleyball second-round match, 15-2, 7-15, 15-7, 15-5, Tuesday at Quartz Hill.

The Highlanders arrived 15 minutes late because their charter bus never showed up at school and, after cramming onto a school bus with the cheerleaders, breezed through the first game.

They hit a mental snag in the second game, committing nine hitting errors.

Quartz Hill gratefully took advantage.

“We were thinking, this team’s easy,” Royal middle blocker Cam Dickson said. “We got into our own heads.”

They didn’t stay there too long.

The Highlanders (21-3) scored the first four points of the third game en route to a 7-1 lead.

Royal then broke free of a 5-5 tie in the fourth game, scoring the final 10 points of the game and match.

“I’ve never seen us make that many mistakes,” Royal Coach Bob Ferguson said of the second game. “But [Quartz Hill] helped create some of it. I was impressed.”

The Rebels (13-3), who received 10 kills and six blocks from Justin Munz, concluded their best season in the program’s eight-year history, which featured their first Golden League title.

But Royal, which won its ninth consecutive Marmonte League championship, was simply too strong and too deep.

“My kids weren’t supposed to do any of the things they’ve done this year,” said first-year Quartz Hill Coach Jason Peplinski, who tried to fire up his players before the match with simple math.

“I told them 50% of teams lose, 50% win. We have as much right to win as they do.”

Dickson had 14 kills for Royal and Steve Russell, who has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge, added 13 for the Highlanders, who face Mira Costa in a quarterfinal match at a site to be determined. The Highlanders lost a lengthy five-game match last month at Mira Costa, seeded fourth in Division I.

“We wanted to play them again,” Dickson said. “We want to try to redeem ourselves.”