Fountain Valley boys’ volleyball victorious in first playoff match since 2013
IRVINE — The Fountain Valley High boys’ volleyball program is enjoying the type of season it has not had in a decade, and for her part, Barons coach Rebecca Cheltenham wants her team to soak it all in.
After earning a straight-sets win in their first CIF Southern Section playoff match since 2013 on Thursday, the Barons heard from Cheltenham that she wants to see her team show how much it wants to win.
Coming from the vaunted Sunset Conference, which saw four teams qualify for the Division 1 playoffs, the Barons were tasked with creating their own energy, something they may have to continue doing until the stage gets bigger.
Fountain Valley cruised to a 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 sweep of host Portola in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs, led by 16 kills off the right hand of outside hitter Curtis Harper.
The Barons will play host to Marmonte League champion Newbury Park (22-12-1) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the second round.
“If we’re all on and we can keep our serves in and play our game, what I think we’re capable of is actually winning this thing,” Cheltenham, the first-year coach of the Barons, said. “It’s just one team at a time, one point at a time, one set at a time. Just kind of keeping that mindset, it’s really just focusing on one team.”
Harper provided the set-clinching kills in each of the first two sets. He said there’s reason to believe this year because the Barons are working toward the same goal.
“I think this year, we just got a solid team that’s been together, and we have a lot of chemistry together,” Harper said. “As a whole, we all want the same thing, and none of us are slacking.”
Fountain Valley (21-6), the second-place team in the Wave League, could be set up to make a run in the section playoffs. There is a success story to follow for teams that have come out of the Wave League since the Sunset Conference was split into two four-team divisions.
In a similar situation, Marina went on to win the Division 4 title in 2021 after qualifying as the second-place team out of the Wave League.
Opposite Joseph Nguyen had 11 kills for Fountain Valley. Outside hitter Thomas Ho pounded out nine kills, and middle blocker Colin Harper had four kills and two blocks. Jovanni Dang distributed 38 assists.
Noah Luper stood out for North Hills League champion Portola (14-17), a school that was founded in 2016. The Bulldogs’ setter had 25 assists and seven kills, effectively running the middle with Neo Erlandsson (14 kills).
“We made the adjustment right away on the setter, just calling out where he was, knowing that he was front row, what he liked to do, tip that ball over,” Cheltenham said. “We started to make that adjustment, which helped, and then we realized that they were setting the middle pretty much every ball, especially if he was on one side of the court. I felt we slowed down their middles quite a bit halfway through the second set.”
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