Josiah Reif led a potent top-seeded Ripon Christian Knights boys volleyball attack that trailed by only one point twice in the 25-11, 25-16, 25-18 sweep of the visiting No. 4 Futures Knights in semifinal action of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.
Reif tallied 18 kills and an ace with two kills coming from the back row.
“Our setter Justin (Hofman) and I have been working on our back-row attacks,” Reif said. “And we have been working on our sets all the way around, keeping up a fast pace.”
Joel Van Groningen posted 13 kills and three aces for Ripon Christian (24-5) with all three of his aces coming in a five-point spurt in the first set. Ripon Christian scored the final five points of the second set with Van Groningen slamming down four of them and Reif the fifth on one of his back-row kills.
“I think we did pretty good tonight,” Van Groningen said. “We kept the pressure on them and I think that is what won every set for us.
“We have a few of us that can attack, and one of us is probably going to go on a big run in every set and that will put things away.”
Hofman dished out 20 assists with three kills and three aces. Hofman had a 10-point service run on the final five points of the second set and the first five of the third.
“I got a few of my serves in,” Hofman said, “I kept hitting it harder and harder and they kept going in.”
Eugen Kurilchenko led Futures (19-9) with five kills.
“They are a good team,” Ripon Christian coach Kevin Tameling said. “We are battle-tested. We had a playoff run last year and we played some really tough opponents this year. So we can put the pressure on, and we came out and played a nearly flawless first set and really put them on their heels.
“Both teams had very good offenses, but they were struggling with getting their serves in all night and we struggled a bit, too. You have to serve tough against teams that have good offenses. I am proud of the way the guys started and the way they played.”
Ripon Christian finished second in Division III in 2019, the last year before a two-year pandemic hiatus, and will defend its 2022 Division IV SJS championship on Saturday morning at 10 against No. 2 Encina Prep of Sacramento at William Jessup University in Rocklin.
