SACRAMENTO — When Ripon Christian freshman Grant Wentworth slammed down the match point Saturday afternoon, the No. 3 Knights claimed their third Sac-Joaquin Section championship in four years with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-18 thumping of fourth-seeded Christian Brothers in the finals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Boys Volleyball Championships on Clark Court at Cosumnes River College.
“This feels fantastic,” Ripon Christian coach Kevin Tameling said. “I am proud of the guys. We have had battles along the way.
“Beyer played so well in the quarterfinal; they really, really pushed us, and that match could have gone either way. And against River Valley, we went five sets and were down late but came back to win. Those matches against those teams, and the improvement of boys volleyball in the south part of the section prepared us for this championship match, and our guys were ready for it.”
Mason Tameling was a force for the Knights (27-9), racking up 12 kills, eight digs and a block.
“We keep swinging,” Mason Tameling said. “If they keep picking the ball up, we don’t give up, we just keep swinging off high hands, find a different part of the court and just find a way to get the ball down.”
Tameling had two back-row kills.
“It’s just another part of the offense,” he said. “If the pins are not working, or if the ball is a little bit off the net, then it is always an option.”
Fellow outside hitter Isaiah Vander Woude punished the reigning champion Falcons (18-8) of Sacramento with 10 kills and three digs.
“I just go out there and hit as hard as I can,” Vander Woude said. “If I get blocked, I move on to the next one, just keep on going and don’t get discouraged because of one thing.
“We just kept it going, we kept them back on their feet. They were out of rotation a lot of times and we kept them that way a lot.”
Both Vander Woude and Mason Tameling had multiple spikes rejected, and unlike a lot of players when that happens, this dynamic duo jumps right back in the saddle and spikes away, resisting the temptation to try to dink the ball over. With the third set tied at 10-10, three of Mason Tameling’s spikes in a row were rejected before he finally slammed home the fourth one, putting Ripon Christian in the lead for good.
Daniel Lambdin was busy setting up the Knights hitters with 29 assists along with four digs.
“This feels great,” Lambdin said. “In soccer, we got bounced in the semis, and we had to beat River Valley to get here. Everything seemed to fall right into place.
“I had a lot of nerves before the game, but once we started playing, everything was just rolling. We were firing on all cylinders, our defense was great and we were killing the ball.”
Freshman Trevor Van Groningen handled the back row for Ripon Christian, posting eight digs.
“This is great,” Van Groningen said, “Because not many people get the opportunity to be here as a freshman.
“I thought I struggled on the defensive end a bit, but I thought I did pretty good on the serve-receive.”
Darren Van Groningen added six kills for the Knights, Wentworth five and Reagan Sauer four.
The match saw 19 ties with seven lead changes. Christian Brothers enjoyed its biggest lead at 3-0 to start the second set behind three kills by Phillip Morozov (10 kills). Despite keeping the match close at times, the latest lead in any set for the Falcons was at 11-10 in the second set when the Knights closed the set out on a 15-5 run.
Ripon Christian will advance to the NorCal championships beginning Tuesday, May 20, with the pairings to be announced the afternoon of Sunday, May 18.
