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The Grizzlies earned their first-ever boys volleyball playoff win in the program’s first-ever playoff match.
They won 24-26, 30-32, 25-14, 25-14, 15-12.
“Amazing,” said first-year Golden Valley head coach Jeff Cody. “The first two games were tight, then the big thing was we just kept the energy up, kept fighting hard. The other team fell apart a little and we capitalized.”
Golden Valley’s Alec Schlossman established a school record with 31 kills in the match, as did Josh Escoe with 68 assists. Ryan Kessler added 26 kills and Dalton Frost had five blocks.
The turning point, Cody said, came in the third game when Golden Valley went up by nine points early.
It threw Arroyo Grande (12-5) off its game and helped the Grizzlies build momentum.
“It was one of those things going into this, we kind of knew we could pull an upset,” Cody said. “One of those things where no one believes in us. Everyone was shocked we got third place. But we can also get past the first round of the playoffs, too.”
Golden Valley (13-13) went from 0-10 in the Foothill League last season to 5-5 this season, the turnaround a result of the players learning the system and believing it, Cody said.
Now they get a reward, if you can call it that — a home game in the second round against No. 2-seeded Laguna Beach (18-7) on Thursday.
“I’ll never say anything’s impossible, but it will be tough,” said Cody of beating Laguna Beach. “We’ll play as hard as we can. Win or lose we’ll be happy with how we play, especially going into next season on a high note.”
