CONCENTRATION—Pioneer Ryan Andrews prepares to bump a pass against Royal. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers For the Highlanders, victory was music to their ears.

In the final moments of the Royal High boys’ volleyball team sweep of rival Simi Valley on the road, RHS students chanted: “Royal Valley!”

Ouch.

The Pioneers didn’t offer a verbal retort, as they endured a 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 Highlander victory Wednesday night.

Royal is 2-1 in Marmonte action while Simi Valley fell to 0-3 in league matches.

Both schools have their sights set on the future.

Royal looks forward to contending for a Marmonte League title while Simi Valley hopes to steadily improve under first-year head coach Jesse Webster.

The Highlanders can always count on Stacey Kelley, the lone returning varsity player from a squad that reached the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 championship against Westlake last June.

HIGH FIVES—Simi Valley High’s Kaleb Erickson, left, and Eric Pinkston leap to block a kill from Royal’s Brett Anderson during a Marmonte League match Wednesday at SVHS. The Highlanders won in three games to improve to 2-1 in league. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers “He does everything for us,” Royal head coach Dean Borth said of Kelley. “He’s our floor general. He owns the court. He owns the team. This is his team.”

Kelley, who played libero and some outside hitter in 2009, controls the tempo of the game and distributes the ball to his frontline hitters at setter.

The senior Highlander wasn’t sure how this season would pan out, since he formed such a close bond with the players from last year.

“A long time ago while I was training, I wished that I was a senior last year so I could graduate with all those guys,” Kelley said.

“I was never looking forward. I was always looking back. Now that the season’s here—I’m loving it. I can’t imagine it any other way. They’re good guys.”

Kelley finished with 29 assists in the three-game sweep.

The senior, who plans to study engineering at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, said the Highlanders take pride in not letting a live ball touch the floor. Borth said his players would go through brick walls to get a ball.

They can, however, be susceptible to bouts of fluctuating play.

“When we play well, we play really well,” Kelley said. “At the same time, when something bad happens, everyone starts looking around at each other. We need to work on consistency.”

The floor leader isn’t the only Highlander who’s in the groove.

Tyler Andrews, who notched 10 kills on Wednesday, is a force at middle blocker.

“He’s coming into his own,” Borth said of Andrews.

Thor English, who might be the most versatile athlete at RHS, is a skilled sophomore libero. English started at goalkeeper for the water polo squad and earned the Marmonte’s offensive MVP in soccer. Both those teams qualified for the postseason.

“He’s a great player,” the coach said of English. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades.”

Junior opposite Brian Kimmel is a smart and solid player who gets Royal out of tough situations. Ryan Rampton is an athletic outside hitter who can hammer the ball. Rampton had a team-high 11 kills against Simi Valley.

Brett Anderson has been a pleasant surprise at outside hitter/ opposite.

Middle blocker James Miller is another player to watch.

Lee Chickering, Trevor Oberender and Brandon Tamayo also contribute for Royal.

Although they can still improve, especially with serving, the Highlanders feel they can compete with Westlake and Thousand Oaks at the top of the Marmonte standings.

“We’re not rebuilding,” Borth said. “We need to settle down and let the game come to us.”

With only one senior, the Pioneers are undergoing a major reclamation project.

Webster, who moved to Simi Valley five months ago, has been at the job for only four weeks. He actually heard about the opening from Borth, who encouraged the Redondo Union High graduate to apply.

“The players have a good attitude,” said Webster, whose wife, Sara, played volleyball, basketball and softball at SVHS. “It’s a good bunch of guys. They listen well.

“They haven’t had a lot of experience. They’re young. By next year, they should be a lot better.”

Simi Valley showed flashes of brilliance on Wednesday, especially from the front-row players like Jake Kessler, Lucas Dunn, Eric Pinkston and Ryan Andrews.

“Our front line is as good as anybody’s in the league,” Webster said. “We have good serving when we’re on, and our defense is improving.”

The coach hopes the Pioneers’ passing improves with game experience.

Simi Valley displayed some of its potential by placing second to Ventura in the 18-team Cam Classic, a March 6 tournament hosted by Camarillo.

Matt Bertch, Teddy Madrid, Zack McCoy, Cooper Brown, Sam Morrissette, Cory Peterson, Chris Baney, Kaleb Erickson and Patrick Pinkston also contribute for the Pioneers.