Sage Hill’s upset bid falls short, but team proud to ‘raise the floor’ for its program
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The legend of Sage Hill’s first CIF Southern Section defeat in three seasons as a boys’ volleyball powerhouse will be about how the Lightning fought back from sizable deficits — forcing its top-seeded foe to endure nine set points and five match points before prevailing — not that its streak of victories was shuttered.
The back-to-back section champions wrapped up their first post-Jackson Cryst campaign Friday evening with a fierce fight in a Division 3 sweep, all three sets decided by the minimum. They exit with great satisfaction. This is a new era, no 6-foot-10 superstar to pave the path, and the 25-23, 25-23, 28-26 second-round loss — the challenge posed and their response — underlined a season’s immense progress.
That didn’t lessen the sting.
“I really hate losing, but I couldn’t have been more proud of the way that we went out today,” said senior Ryan Manesh, an All-CIF outside hitter who led the Lightning with 14 kills, half of them in a wild final set. “After winning two CIF championships, this year we were really running for a third, but I’m so happy with the way that we fought. We gave it our all. And I have no regrets.
“We as a team did everything we could, and sometimes the game just doesn’t fall our way.”
Sage Hill (22-10) let an early first-set lead disappear into a back-and-forth with ties at every point from 14 to 23, then rallied from late six-point deficits in the last two sets, getting within 24-23 in the second and pulling even four times in the third. Sea Kings opposite Zade Innocent delivered the closing blows, both on little dinks that fell lightly to the floor.
Palos Verdes (25-10), which will be home against Valencia (22-7) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, utilized an impeccable serve-receive game behind libero Brady Gonnerman and outside hitter Brendan Steuerwald and the net work from Innocent, Steuerwald and Kosta Tripalo (a combined 25 kills and two service aces).
Dylan Han contributed nine kills, Connor Gapp five kills, and freshman middle blocker Caden Priddy five kills and five blocks for Sage Hill.
“Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn’t,” Palos Verdes coach Peter Gonnerman said. “It’s a game of inches, and it really could have gone either way. The ball bounces your way, you just scrap and play hard.
“[Sage Hill] is fantastic, really well-coached, super scrappy. Very, very tough team, a very good win by us.”
First-year Lightning head coach Ethan Cinco said he, “as a coach,” could find points his team should not have conceded. Seven third-set service errors were costly, and increasingly “frenetic” blocking enabled Palos Verdes to take charge at the net.
“Obviously, we can do better,” Cinco said. “But I think what we’re most proud of is just we were able to make it two points’ [difference]. We were able to take a team that has been above us [in the ratings] all year and really push them hard. I think we gave them more than they expected. And we kind of gave them everything we could handle.
“The outcome didn’t necessarily reflect what we were hoping for, but sports is fun because you don’t know the outcome. Good games are won and lost close. We talked in the locker room and everyone agreed that we gave our all. That’s the best feeling after a game, that clarity of we did all we could. Sports sometimes doesn’t shake out your way, but we gave all we could. And we can be proud of that.”
Sage Hill senior outside hitter Jackson Cryst leads the Daily Pilot Boys’ Volleyball Dream Team for the 2025 season.
Cryst, now starring as a freshman at second-ranked Long Beach State, was a transformative presence in the Lightning’s Division 5 championship in 2024 and last year’s Division 4 and CIF State Division III titles, and the new era emphasizes the collective. Sage Hill’s load has been carried by many, with Manesh and fellow All-CIF senior hitters Gapp and Han, Priddy, and senior setter Jonathan Ye taking on sizable loads.
“We raised the floor. I think that’s how I like putting it the most,” said Cinco, who was hired in December after eight seasons in his alma mater San Juan Hills’ program. “We had a high ceiling, but I think the best thing we did was raise the floor. Everybody got better and was able to compete.
“I think this team surprised themselves with how well we were able to compete without Jackson. And I think this team will continue to surprise other teams with how well we’re able to compete without X, Y, Z. I think it’s the culture here at the school that helps promote such successful seasons. It’s tough losing these seniors. They’ve been an important part of this program. But, as I think we were able to prove this year, it’s not the names we lose. It’s how are we going to respond.”
Cryst, who arrived from Long Beach Millikan at the start of the 2023-24 school year, played a foundational role in this.
“Jackson taught all of us a lot of knowledge,” Manesh said. “He’s been around the game since he was, like, 5 years old and had so much knowledge to spread to us, and I think we took advantage of that, and we were able to provide that [to new players] this season. ...
“I think as a team this year, we’re just much more cohesive. We don’t rely on one person, and I think that’s truly beautiful. It was a great help having him the past two years, but I’m really proud of the way that this team, we all gave it our all, and we all played a role. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
