RSS Feed
|
The Acorn - Thousand Oaks Acorn Moorpark Acorn - Camarillo Acorn |
|
|||||||
|
Royal boys' volleyball team back to its winning ways
It's been six years since their last league title, but the Highlanders proved they could be returning to glory this year with a 3-1 home win against Westlake High Wednesday. WHS has won or shared four of the last five league championships. The win put the Highlanders' record at 2-0 in league play. "It seemed we had control of the whole match tonight," junior Jerame Maas said. "We have very good chemistry on this team, and tonight it showed." Leading the way for RHS was senior Kyle Auge and junior Trevor Jones. Jones registered four of his match-high 17 kills in the first game, while Auge had three kills and an ace in the first game. After the match, Auge said Jones has helped his game tremendously.
Up one game to none, Royal grabbed a big lead in the second game thanks to the Warriors' serving errors. Westlake committed six failed serves in the second game, and the Highlanders took advantage by taking a 168 lead. WHS made a comeback late in Game 2, but it wasn't enough, and Royal won, 25-22. "When Westlake made a run at us in the second game our coach told us to stay calm and focused," Maas said. "That second game they had a lot of missed serves, and we knew we had to capitalize on it. After they missed a serve, we wanted to bring the pressure even more." Although the Warriors were down 2-0, they would not go quietly into the night. Jake Kneller had four of his teamhigh 14 kills en route to a 25-23 Game 3 win. Last season, Royal had a 2-1 lead on Westlake at home before eventually losing in five games. This year, RHS head coach Dean Borth made sure history didn't repeat itself. "I told them after the third game that we had to go back to work," Borth said. "We had to take care of the ball on our side and not let Westlake go on any runs." Royal jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the fourth game, sparked by a pair of kills by Jones. The Highlanders also received solid play from senior Chasen Boswell, who led the team with 12 digs. "Boswell played great," Borth said. "All game he's taking balls off his face, and then he's getting up and laughing about it seconds later." Boswell said he wasn't trying to show up Westlake when he was laughing. "I was just very excited and happy to be contributing for the team," Boswell said. "Our team played really well in the second half of the third game and the majority of the final game. It was fun to be a part of it." Leading 10-9 in the fourth game, Royal went on a 7-1 run, sparked by kills from Jones and Tyler Peterson. Jones sealed the match for the Highlanders when he spiked his 17th kill off a Westlake defender to give Royal a 25-19 victory. "This match was a good chance for us to set the tone for the regular season, and I think we did that tonight," Auge said. "Westlake is a very good team that we've had problems with in the past. Tonight we played very well against them. We want to feed off this momentum, and I believe we haven't even come close to peaking." After the game, Borth said Royal's confidence is very high. "Earlier in the season, we played a very tough Santa Barbara High team, and we played with them the entire match," Borth said. "After that game it was like a light went off and we said 'Oh, we are pretty good."' Royal's next game is at Agoura High on Wednesday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. |
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||
)
)