OCEANSIDE — The 2023 boys volleyball season was unkind to San Ysidro.
The Cougars finished a paltry 7-23 in coach Brianna Hennekam’s first year.
But there were a few sophomores and freshmen on that team, and the mentality of learning through losses began to take shape.
On Thursday night, the process came to completion.
The No. 2 seed Cougars used a well-rounded offensive attack and extreme calm under pressure to beat Monte Vista, 27-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, in the CIF Division V Championship held at Mira Costa College.
“Overall, I would say that our team goes with our heart the most,” Hennekam said. “It has kind of hurt us at times, but it has helped us. They knew that this was the last time they were ever going to play together, and they wanted to fight till the end and wanted to end in the best way possible.”
The Cougars (24-10) had an impressive four players with at least eight kills, led by Gabriel Cariaga’s nine. Gabriel Silva, Jair Flores (two stuff blocks) and Sergio Mena were the other three.
But make no mistake. San Ysidro was led by one of those sophomores on that ’23 squad, senior setter Sebastian Castro. He not only consistently put his hitters in great places to succeed, he also notched five kills as an offensive-minded setter.
“Everybody can set, but not everybody can make that quick-thinking, aggressive setter moves to keep the other team’s offense on their toes,” said Castro, who is headed to Division III North Park University in Chicago. “This is just a fairytale ending for us, especially for me as a senior.”
The top-seeded Monarchs (23-13) were as aggressive at the net as they were scrappy in the back row.
Ryder Fox had 15 kills, followed closely by Jeremy Alaysa’s 14. Raksadyrath Ouk and Yeshua Martinez each chipped in with eight.
Coach Alexis Cabarga struggled to define a season that saw Monte Vista play the unfamiliar role of favorite.
“Work,” Cabarga said. “It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of love. A lot of tears. A lot of work. A lot of commitment from both parties right? From coaches and players.”
San Ysidro had three set points in the first, set but the Monarchs came back to tie it at 24. Castro had a key dump at 25-all and Sergio Mena’s kill in the middle secured the 26-24 win.
The Cougars looked poised to go up 2-0 with a 24-22 lead in set No. 2. But the Monarchs got back-to-back stuff blocks from Ouk and Fox to tie it and then Martinez put an over away to tie the match at a set apiece.
A back-and-forth third set again saw the Monarchs come back late to get within one, but two late kills by Silva won it for San Ysidro.
A late Monarchs run in set four brought them to within 20-19, but the Cougars’ offense was too much.
Thursday marked the first CIF championship in program history for San Ysidro.
“I started my teaching career at San Ysidro and I wanted to get in the volleyball program any way I could,” she said. “Our first season was really rough, but I saw the potential in our team. It feels incredible two years later to give the school that I love a banner for the sport that I’ve loved for my whole life.”
