Sage Hill rallies to move on

NEWPORT COAST — “This is our house!”

The chant was heard during every timeout late in Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division V quarterfinal between host Sage Hill School and Chadwick of Palos Verdes Peninsula. But it wasn’t Lightning fans saying the words.

Chadwick brought a large cheering section, including several students wearing blue Chadwick tank tops and carrying a large board, which they put a black “K” on every time Dolphins standout Max McFarland recorded a kill.

“We were pretty surprised that they brought as many people down here as they did,” Lightning sophomore Bayle Smith said. “It was the probably the biggest crowd we had all year.”

Sage Hill’s best response to the chants came on the volleyball court, where the Lightning got their biggest win all year, a 25-21, 27-29, 20-25, 25-18, 15-12 thriller.

The Lightning (16-7) join the 2004 Sage Hill squad as the school’s only boys’ volleyball teams to advance to the CIF semifinals. Sage Hill will play No. 1-seeded Viewpoint of Calabasas on Wednesday in the Division V semis, at a site to be determined by coin flip.

Viewpoint swept Bellarmine-Jefferson of Burbank, 25-21, 25-15, 25-14, Friday in the quarterfinals.

Smith, who had 19 kills, was a big reason why the Lightning will be moving on. It was his kill in the fifth game that snapped an 11-11 tie, giving the Lightning a lead, albeit slight, that they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We had a lot of ups and downs, but we came out on top,” Smith said. “That’s kind of been like our whole season. We’re pretty stoked to beat them in the playoffs, too, because they knocked us out in the second round last season.”

But all of the Lightning chipped in to defeat Chadwick (17-5), the Prep League champion, in five games for the second time this season.

Freshman Joey Booth had 13 kills — six of those in Games 4 and 5 — and junior Carl Hillgren had five blocks. Sophomore setter Michael Bear tallied 44 assists, and freshman libero Mattias Russo-Larsson had 18 digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Harlan Webster had six kills and two blocks, and junior outside hitter Austin Apramian had four kills and three service aces.

Coach Dan Thomassen had to check his pulse after the match, in which he saw Sage Hill rally from a 2-1 games deficit.

“I’m still breathing,” he said. “That was fun. After the first game, we had it in hand and kind of let it slip a little. But we knew it was going to be a battle; they’re a very good team. Our guys lost their composure a little bit, but they came back and stepped it up. They didn’t want their season to end.”

Sage Hill took a 6-5 lead in Game 1 on Bear’s ace serve and didn’t relinquish it until McFarland’s kill gave Chadwick a 21-20 lead. But Sage won the next five points, finishing the game off on a block from Smith.

The Lightning led, 18-13, in Game 2 and 13-10 in Game 3, but Chadwick stormed back to win each game, exciting the Dolphins faithful even more.

“That’s fine. That’s cool that they have their support,” Russo-Larsson said. “It’s cool because it kind of gives us the motivation to push a little harder.

“The way we bounced back just showed how much our team is close. I’m just so proud to be on a team that pulled back together like that, and finished that strong. We just fought so hard; we really earned that [match].”

Sage Hill took an 8-2 lead in Game 4 and led throughout, setting up the decisive Game 5. There, the Lightning took an 11-8 lead before the Dolphins scored three in a row to knot the score.

But Smith’s kill gave Sage Hill the lead back, and two Chadwick hitting errors gave the Lightning a match point. They won it on a block from Hillgren.

McFarland had 17 kills to lead Chadwick.

Sage Hill now faces No. 1-seeded Viewpoint for the first time this season.

“We’ve heard they’re pretty good,” Smith said. “They were tied for first with Brethren Christian [in the Division V rankings] pretty much the whole season, and we’ve beaten Brethren [in three games on April 25]. We have to play our best, but if we play our best, we’ve got a shot.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or matthew.szabo@latimes.com.