Quartz Hill Gets Together, Takes Apart Valencia

So this is how they’re supposed to look.

Quartz Hill High, playing short-handed throughout the season, finally got everybody together for a nonleague boys’ volleyball match Thursday at Valencia.

The result was a 15-1, 15-8, 15-6 victory over Valencia in a performance as dominating as the score indicated.

Ranked No. 7 in the region by The Times, the Rebels (3-1) blocked and attacked with tenacity, showing what happens when all their players are on the same court.

Jared Corpening, a 6-foot-9 middle blocker who missed two matches because he was taking college-prep classes after school, delivered 11 kills.

Setter Kyle Gookins, who missed the Ventura tournament because he was sick, kept everybody happy, distributing the ball to all of the Rebels’ capable hitters.

In case Golden League rival Highland is interested--and it appears the Bulldogs are, based on some of their players’ presence in the stands--things will only get better for Quartz Hill.

At least, that’s the way Rebel Coach Jason Peplinski sees it.

“We need two more weeks with our setter and then we’re going to be a lot better,” Peplinski said. “You can tell we’re just flat.”

Flat? Then how would Peplinski describe Valencia?

The Vikings (2-1), ranked No. 4 in the region, had trouble with cohesiveness.

Two starters were benched for the first game because they broke team rules, allowing Quartz Hill take an easy lead.

Sahael Almuallem, a 6-8 middle blocker who has signed with UCLA, had four blocks in the first game and finished with six blocks.

Almuallem and Corpening disrupted Valencia’s offense, constantly deflecting the Vikings’ hitting attempts.

“They were sopping up everything in the middle,” said Coach Kevin Kornegay of Valencia. “They took us out of our plan.”

Said Peplinski: “We don’t need big bombs [on offense] because we block so well. It almost makes it tough for us to set up our offense.”

When they set up on offense, they do just fine. And it’s not just a reliance on Corpening and Almuallem.

Opposite hitter Jon Steers and outside hitters Clint Coe and Josh Felt keep defenses from concentrating on the Rebels’ middle tandem.

Quartz Hill scored on its first nine serves in the third game, including two kills by Coe, en route to the sweep.

The Rebels’ next challenge is a Golden League match April 14 against Highland, ranked No. 2.

As for Valencia, it remains to be seen whether early-season momentum will be lost. The Vikings won the 20-team Ventura tournament, but were ineffective in several areas against Quartz Hill.

Looming in the future are three Foothill League matches against Canyon, ranked No. 5.

“Hopefully it’s a wake-up call,” Kornegay said. “Service errors, hitting errors, we weren’t hitting the court at all.”