Carlmont Scots into Nor Cal boys’ volleyball finals

No. 1-seed Carlmont (37-6) swept through the semifinals with a 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 win over No. 5 De La Salle-Concord, paced by junior outside hitter Sean Murphy’s match-high 17 kills. The Scots will now play for the Nor Cal title against No. 3 Berean Christian-Walnut Creek Saturday night at 6 p.m.

“It’s really, really special,” Carlmont junior Simon Hua said. “Especially because I’ve been playing with these guys for so long. I’ve known some of these guys since sixth grade ... so I’m really glad I’m able to experience this with them. Because this is probably the first time we’ve ever gone this far, and the most we’ve accomplished.”

Hua is one of the four original Red Rockers sporting Carlmont blue this season. The defensive specialist started playing at the Redwood City volleyball club in sixth grade with setter Kevin Tomita, outside hitter Eric Fadeyev and defensive specialist Brendan Chan-Wittry. In future seasons, Murphy, Eli Nathan, Devin Engberg and Cyrus Wong all joined Red Rock as well.

Carlmont’s core eight are all juniors, and are already setting their sights on some ambitious goals for next season. These goals include hoping to qualifying for the Best of the West Boys’ Volleyball Invitational, an elite 32-team tourney traditionally held in March. There’s also gains to be made in the CCS tournament; with the Scots winning the CCS Division title this season, they’ve expressed hopes of advancing to the CCS Open Division tournament next season.

As for now, though, summing up Thursday’s elimination-match victory in the Nor Cal semifinals is as simple a prospect as it is immediate.

“We get to keep playing,” Engberg said. “That’s the goal.”

However, it took a quick turnaround for Carlmont to get on track against De La Salle. The Spartans (26-14) came out swinging. Outside hitters John Creshareck (second-team all-East Bay Athletic League) and Luke Nobrega (all-EBAL honorable mention) fronted a hard-hitting attack, and opened an early 12-6 lead in Game 1.

Carlmont head coach Dan Nelson countered by calling a timeout, one he used as a wakeup call.

“They just needed a minute to kind of gain their focus,” Nelson said. “They were just a little dazed over for the first couple of points. ... They had a glazed over look on their face and you just say: ‘Wake up and get going.’ And once they did that, the ball was rolling.”

The Scots went on a 7-2 run out of the timeout, sparked by Fadeyev tooling the block off the left side, followed by an ace from Chan-Wittry to start a three-point service run. Then trailing 17-16, the back-row defense of Tomita helped put Carlmont ahead for the first time in the match.

The junior setter jutted back to scrap up a crafty dig, with Murphy and junior libero Will Won working to keep the rally alive. After a De La Salle return, Fadeyev scored the kill with a left-side bolt off the block to tie it 17-17. On the ensuing point, Tomita produced another clutch dig, deflecting a right-side laser off his shoe tops; the Spartans later contacted the net to award the Scots an 18-17 lead.

Tomita finished the night with 16 digs, while Won totaled a team-high 24.

“We have three or four really strong guys on defense and in serve receive,” Nelson said. “Strong passers, strong diggers. They make a huge difference for us. That’s the one thing that stands out wherever we play is that tenacity to get every ball up.”

The strong defense transitions into a versatile setting corps. While Tomita recorded a match-high 27 assists, Hua and Won can also run the set when to free up Tomita on defense.

“We have three basically liberos playing defense as one time,” Hua said. “So ... we basically say to each other the ball doesn’t hit the floor. And that’s what we roll by. And that’s why I think our defense is so good.”

The Scots closed out the opening set with Fadeyev working the left side with a pair of sharp cross shots, and Murphy firing two cannon shots from the pipe, including an emotional kill for set point.

The Scots rolled the momentum into Game 2, during which they never trailed. Engberg was a big reason, scoring all of his five match kills in the set. In Game 3, De La Salle dashed out to an early 5-1 lead, and battled through the middle game to lead as late as 13-12. But a 7-1 Carlmont run, fueled by a Tomita dump shot and the relentless back-row attack of Murphy, put the Scots ahead for good. Fadeyev set up match point with his 11th kill of the night, a tight cross off the left side. Murphy finished off with a classic left-side swing to tool the block.

De La Salle enjoyed a historic season in its own right, winning Tuesday’s Nor Cal opener on the road in four sets at No. 4 Antelope. It was the first Nor Cal victory in the Spartans history, this after grabbing the North Coast Section Division II championship. The postseason run may have seemed unlikely after De La Salle finished in fourth place in the EBAL, but all four of the league’s top teams ultimately qualified for Nor Cals.

“We were kind of beaten up in league ... so for us to make it this far was incredible,” De La Salle head coach Stephanie Cline said.