Serra volleys to program’s first CCS crown

The No. 2-seed Padres (28-7 overall) had only reached the CCS volleyball finals once in program history, and that came a generation ago in 2005. Since then, Serra has seen its ups and downs, including fairly recently, enduring two straight seasons through 2015 and ’16 when the team did not win a game through West Catholic Athletic League play.

“It’s amazing,” senior Brian Ronan said off the championship turnaround. “I came into the Serra program, two years before, back-to-back 0-12 in our league. We’ve now taken it to 10-2 the last two years. And a banner — CCS, WCAL, Nor Cal, anything — we just wanted one. And it just feels so good to finally do it. I’m just so proud of our team.”

Ronan was Serra’s go-to guy on the court against No. 5 Valley Christian (21-15) Saturday at St. Francis High School. The left-handed swinging outside hitter peppered a match-high 20 kills, including nine in Game 2 to put the Padres in the driver’s seat.

Serra has enjoyed a depth of attackers this year, with outside hitter Nick Disco, along with a trio of middles in seniors Matt Conry and Cade Rees, and junior Luke Beese. Once Ronan got cooking late in the opening set though, senior setter Neeraj Keshav was keen to continue feeding the hot hand.

“Neeraj is a very smart setter,” Serra head coach Heather Anthony said. “He knows when our hitters are hot … feed them, feed them, feed the hitters. So, that was working for us. We’re going to take advantage of that.”

Anthony, in her first year as head coach, broke a long-standing tradition of Serra running a 6-2 offense. Keshav was a big reason for the decision to transition to the 5-1. And the senior certainly proved Saturday he can be trusted to run the show.

Keshav was distributing the ball generously in the early going. Disco, off the outside, had several pivotal kills, including giving the Padres the lead for good in each of the first two sets. In Game 1, tied 13-13, he exacted a laser off the left side to ignite a 7-0 Serra run. In Game 2, he got a touch call on a long blazer to five the Padres an early 5-4 advantage. They never again trailed in the match.

Perhaps the most critical point of the contest was a Disco kill in Game 1 to up the lead to 15-13. It was the longest rally of the afternoon, thanks in part to several clutch digs by junior libero Kevin Ramos. When Disco ultimately tooled the double block of Valley Christian to continue Serra’s best run of the match, it was a major momentum shift, especially for Ramos who feeds off long rallies.

“I love them,” Ramos said. “Especially when we close out the rally and get the point. I think it shows how much we push as a team.”

A natural libero, Ramos finally got to don the libero jersey for the first time this season. Last year, he served primarily as a defensive specialist behind now-graduated Michael Gonzales. As a freshman with the junior-varsity squad, he played outside hitter.

Since being promoted to the varsity squad, the junior has been one of the secrets to the Padres’ success, especially this season. Not that anyone in the Serra ranks saw the span of success coming.

“What we did last year really surprised us,” Ramos said. “We didn’t get as far as we did this year. But it was a pretty solid team. … This year we had a really, really solid team. Everyone contributed more this year than last year. Everyone plays their part on the floor and that’s how we win games.”

Ronan proved the force to be reckoned with in Saturday’s march to the championship. At an unassuming 5-10, he doesn’t look the part of the prototypical attacker — until the junior lefty gets airborne.

He got going late in Game 1, twice attacking off the left side for back-to-back kills to force set point. Conry, a 6-5 senior, finished off the opening set with block off the middle.

Then to start Game 2, Ronan scored the first point with a long smash off the left side that caught the backline. He then rotated through the back, putting down a point from the pipe with a funky roll shot. He then scored twice from the right side before returning to the left pin, scoring each of Serra’s final four points of the set.

Serra rode the momentum to a Game 3 blowout with the passing of Disco, Ramos and Ronan playing a big role, Anthony said.

“We have a brilliant passing squad,” she said.

Up next for Serra is another first, a trip to the CIF Northern California playoffs, opening Tuesday. The Padres earned the No. 2 seed in the Division II bracket and will host No. 7 Marin Catholic at 7 p.m.

“We had a vision and a mission from the beginning,” Anthony said. “And every day we were focused on that. And we believed in ourselves that this was the team that was going to go all the way.”