Daily Pilot Boys’ Volleyball Dream Team: Sage Hill’s Jackson Cryst could do it all
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Jackson Cryst has likely always been the big man on campus.
The 6-foot-10 outsider hitter took the Sage Hill boys’ volleyball program to new heights during an unbelievable two-year stint that was no tall tale.
While much remains ahead for Cryst, who is joining reigning national champion Long Beach State to continue playing volleyball, his high school career closed three weeks ago with the highest of highs.
Sage Hill, largely because of Cryst, went down in history as one of the inaugural boys’ volleyball state champions, as the Lightning beat San Francisco International 25-19, 25-16, 25-23 for the CIF State Division III title.
Cryst had 23 kills, three service aces and 1½ total blocks in the state final, the last game in an extended winning streak that spanned more than six weeks.
The season-saving streak began on April 17 with a five-set win over Portola that got the Lightning back to the .500 mark after an 0-5 start. Sage Hill (22-11) grabbed an at-large bid into the Southern Section’s Division 4 bracket, then made good on that chance by edging Santa Barbara in five sets for its second consecutive CIF title.
After winning back-to-back CIF titles and earning divisional player of the year honors in his two seasons at Sage Hill, Cryst is the Daily Pilot Boys’ Volleyball Dream Team Player of the Year.
Cryst insisted that winning championships was not a byproduct of “the Jackson show,” saying that he learned about how to lead a team and make others around him better. Junior Connor Gapp, who split his playing time between setter and opposite, and junior outside hitter Ryan Manesh became key contributors.
“I think that was a really surprising challenge that I wasn’t ready for, that I’m not just going to be able to jump my way and hit my way out of everything,” Cryst said. “That helps in crunch-time matches, but volleyball is the ultimate team sport. I can’t hit a ball without someone setting it, and you can’t set it without someone passing it, so I think it was really incredible to actually be able to understand that. Now, if I can apply that to a higher-level team, then it makes the game so much more fun to play, and then also we’re just so much more effective at winning volleyball matches.”
Arriving at Sage Hill as a junior transfer from Long Beach Millikan, Cryst had an immediate impact on the fortunes of the Lightning. Sage Hill needed all of Cryst’s eye-popping 54-kill performance to come out on top in a five-set Division 5 final against San Marino for the program’s first CIF championship in 2024.
“Jackson is a great leader,” Manesh said. “It’s truly a blessing to be on the same team as him because the amount of volleyball knowledge that he spreads and preaches to us, it’s so helpful to our game. … I remember our five-set match against [Simi Valley] Royal, he was talking to us about what Karch Kiraly, the greatest volleyball player of all time, told him. …
“Before the fifth set, he said Karch Kiraly told him, ‘Nobody wants the easy 3-0 experiences. The best champions, they live for the five-set matches,’ and that helped push us to the win against Royal. Just inspirational words like that, the knowledge that he has, the skills. He’s 6-foot-10, but his ball control is insane.”
As a two-sport athlete, Cryst also played in the post for the boys’ basketball team. Sage Hill advanced to the Division 3AA quarterfinals in his junior year, and this past season, they were the runner-up in the same division.
So much of that was challenging. First came frustration with transfer sit-out periods. Then as a senior, the physicality and the time commitment of a senior basketball season that extended into the early part of March with regional playoff qualification was eating away at a volleyball season already underway.
Cryst credited D’Cean Bryant, Sage Hill’s boys’ basketball coach, with helping him to understand the life lessons involved while navigating those situations.
“I think that he was really right there with me through all that, and not in a way where he’s just trying to make me feel better, but in a way where he’s telling me what I need,” Cryst said of Bryant. “This last year, too, where I’m committed to college for volleyball, and I’m in basketball season, going well into volleyball, and I’m frustrated. I’m voicing to him that I’m extremely frustrated. ‘I’m a volleyball player. Why am I doing this? I’m getting double- and triple-teamed in games, getting beat up.’”
Bryant’s message was one of honoring your commitments and being where your feet are.
“He was like, ‘I don’t know when this is going to serve you, but it’s going to because at a certain point in your life, you’re going to have to do something that you don’t want to do. How are you going to respond to that? Are you just going to show up and not be there, not really do it, or are you going to be all-in to whatever you’re doing?’ It’s a character thing, and I think that did really serve me well,” Cryst said.
Jordan Hoppe, who took over as the Sage Hill boys’ volleyball coach this year, called Cryst a “student of the game” and also referred to some of the athleticism he displays on the court as incomprehensible. He said he has seen Cryst do the splits.
“The athletic ability, being 6-10, is something you only see in a few athletes to ever live — I think Wilt Chamberlain being number one,” Hoppe said. “I think it’s a good comparison because I think Wilt was one of the most athletic 7-footers to ever play basketball. I think Jackson is not only arguably the best player in the country, but he’s arguably one of the most athletic players in the country, even at 6-10, which is even more remarkable.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
Craig Pazanti
Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach (36-5) enjoyed a season to be proud of, even if it fell short of the ultimate goal. The Oilers spent the season looking up to Mira Costa as the nation’s top team, but they earned multiple bites at the apple in the postseason, meeting the Mustangs in the Division 1 section final and the Division I regional final. Huntington Beach went undefeated in the Sunset League, securing its first league title since 2016. The Oilers advanced to their first CIF final since 2021.
FIRST TEAM
Ben Brown
OH | Corona del Mar | Jr.
What can Brown do for you? For the Sea Kings, the answer was a lot. Brown, who transferred from Elmhurst York in Illinois, paid immediate dividends for CdM (24-7), which came one match shy of reaching the Division 1 final. The All-CIF Division 1 and Sunset League first-team selection compiled 451 kills, 144 digs and 42 aces.
Henry Clemo
OPP | Newport Harbor | Jr.
Clemo packed a punch from the right pin and the service line, rarely holding back on a swing. A fiery competitor, the junior opposite provided infectious passion that helped elevate Newport Harbor (27-12), which was one of three Sunset League teams to qualify for the Division 1 playoffs. Clemo was a first-team all-league honoree.
Kai Gan
S | Huntington Beach | Sr.
After sharing the setting duties with Jake Pazanti as a junior, Gan handled the role in all rotations as a senior. Gan, a Harvard commit, shared the Sunset League MVP award with Logan Hutnick, his top option and an emerging star for the Oilers at outside hitter. The All-CIF selection churned out 1,454 assists to go with 175 digs, 54 blocks, 39 kills and 29 aces.
Nick Ganier Jr.
MB | Huntington Beach | Sr.
Ganier Jr. had the effect of opening up the entire offense, as teams could not lock in solely on Logan Hutnick and Ben Arguello on the pins. When opponents made that choice, they paid a price for doing so. Ganier Jr., a first-team all-league selection, supplied 212 kills on a .403 hitting percentage and contributed to 68 blocks.
Brogan Glenn
L | Corona del Mar | Sr.
A three-year starter for the Sea Kings, Glenn’s passing contributions were vital with his team breaking in a new setter in Drake Foley. Glenn, a UCLA-bound libero who earned All-CIF and Sunset League first-team honors, provided 263 digs, 22 kills and 16 aces.
Logan Hutnick
OH | Huntington Beach | So.
Huntington Beach fell one set short of its first section title in a decade, but Hutnick will surely be at the forefront of the revenge tour. Hutnick finished with 560 kills on a .318 hitting percentage, adding 204 digs, 72 total blocks and 30 aces. The All-CIF honoree had 22 kills, 13 digs and 2½ blocks in the Division 1 final.
SECOND TEAM
Position, Name, School, Year
OPP Ben Arguello, Huntington Beach, Jr.
L Aiden Atencio, Huntington Beach, Sr.
MB Jack Berry, Newport Harbor, Sr.
L Nathan Jackson, Edison, Sr.
OPP Connor McNally, Edison, Sr.
OH Kai Patchell, Laguna Beach, Sr.
OH Hudson Reynolds, Pacifica Christian, Sr.
OPP An Nguyen, Ocean View, Sr.
OH JP Wardy, Newport Harbor, Jr.
S Charlie Von Der Ahe, Newport Harbor, Jr.
MB Billy Watkins, Fountain Valley, Jr.
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