Connor Koski lifts El Camino Real to City Section Open Division boys’ volleyball title
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It was fitting Connor Koski clinched El Camino Real’s championship with a block on match point in Saturday night’s City Section Open Division boys volleyball final at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa.
“I timed my jump and I thought it was going out but I guess it hit [an opposing player’s] foot on the way down,” said an exuberant Koski, who moved from middle blocker to opposite hitter before the playoffs. “I asked [coach Alyssa Lee] to switch me and it worked.”
El Camino Real’s triumph culminated in a 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21 victory over top-seeded Venice, but the title was four years in the making. Eleven of the Royals’ 12 players are seniors.
“We’re all friends, we all trust each other, and it’s a dream come true to win a championship in one of our last matches together,” said Tyler Lee, who paced the squad with 14 kills. “We’ve lost our share of five setters, so we wanted to end this thing in four.”
Koski, El Camino Real’s lone junior, had eight kills, including one to end the second set. Dev Vunnam and Christian Romero also each had eight kills, Jackson Riepe had seven and Nicolas Gerola served four aces, the first of which gave El Camino Real the first set.
The third-seeded Royals (27-13) got hot at the right time and avenged a pair of West Valley League losses to Chatsworth by ending the Chancellors’ bid for a third straight Open title with a shocking 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 semifinal upset Tuesday.
“I’ve known this group since their freshman year and I’ve push them hard in practice to prepare them for those situations,” said Lee, who understands the intensity of every match in the West Valley League, having played libero for Granada Hills before graduating in 2009. “The physical talent is there but the mental training is so important. You have to stay focused and can’t let up.”
Lee coached the boys to the Division I title in 2016 (the Open Division debuted in 2018) and guided the girls to the Open championship in 2023. She also has coached the girls to two beach volleyball crowns.
“The first two times we played Chatsworth I just let the boys play but I game-planned a lot for the semifinals,” Lee said. “We needed a big guy on the right like Connor to block and get some kills.”
Trailing by four points early in the third set and in danger of being swept, the Gondoliers (36-6) used an 8-0 run to surge into the lead and finished it on Nathan Hoggatt’s emphatic kill. Noah Smith had 10 kills for Venice, last year’s Division I champion.
Something had to give as Venice entered on an 11-match winning streak dating back to April 21 (dropping only one set in the process) while El Camino Real had won five consecutive matches and 15 straight sets since April 9.
In Saturday’s Division II final, hitter Izac Garcia helped Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences take home its first City title after a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15 triumph over Mendez, which was seeking its first crown since back-to-back Division III championships in 2021-22.
Hamilton, last year’s Division V champion, moved up to Division IV and beat Port of LA for the championship. In Division V, Wilson downed Harbor Teacher for its first-ever title.
On the same floor Friday, top-seeded Taft captured its seventh section crown, sixth in Division I and first since 2015 with its 25-10, 25-20, 25-17 sweep of No. 2 Carson. Arman Mercado, who took over the girls’ program in 2000 and the boys two years later, coached the girls to their first Open Division title in the fall and has guided the Toreadors to 22 finals appearances.
East Valley swept Maywood CES for the Division III title — the Falcons’ first in boys volleyball.
Also on Friday, Mira Costa outlasted Huntington Beach in five sets in a South Bay showdown for the Southern Section Division 1 championship at Cerritos College. The top-seeded Mustangs prevailed, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11, behind 25 kills from Grayson Bradford — the last from the right side to end the match.
Mateo Fuerbringer added 17 kills for Mira Costa, which fell in three sets to Loyola in the finals last spring. Logan Hutnick led the charge for the second-seeded Oilers, who staved off four championship points in a wild fourth set. It was the Mustangs’ ninth section title and first since 2021.
Mater Dei rallied to beat Peninsula 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 in Division 2.
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