At this point, the Pacific Collegiate School boys volleyball team is just along for the road trip. That’s true — be it a 15-minute jaunt to Santa Cruz High for a “home” game, a six-hour slog to Auburn for retribution or the hour and a half on the highway bound for history, which is what the Pumas (35-5) will make Saturday when they become the first Santa Cruz County team to play for the CIF NorCal Division II championship.
The title match against Saratoga (25-11) is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Dublin High.
“It feels pretty good that we’re going on to the finals, which is what we hoped for,” senior outside Wyatt Harrison said.
Well, it’s what they hoped for as of two weeks ago, when they secured a spot in the NorCal tournament by reaching the Central Coast Section D-II championship, which they eventually won in five games over Saratoga. At the start of the season — 12 long weeks ago — the Pumas weren’t focused on making history. They were just trying to keep it from repeating itself.
Almost this exact same team filled the court for PCS last season, with considerably different results. The Pumas finished 15-12 overall, were fourth in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and were swept in the first round of the CCS playoffs.
“We felt like we had more to show after last season,” Harrison said. “We had probably more club players than any other school and finished fourth last year. I think we weren’t necessarily disappointed, but we weren’t totally satisfied.
“We’ve all grown as players and we wanted to come out and see how far we could actually go with playing as best we can.”
Well, now they know. Their only real goal was to go undefeated in SCCAL play and win the championship. They fell one match short, relenting to Aptos in the penultimate week of the regular season. That hardly seems to matter now. They still won the league title, the league tournament and the program’s second CCS title in four seasons. Now, they’re traveling into uncharted territory.
Mount Madonna previously went the farthest into NorCals, advancing to the semifinals in the first year of the tournament in 2013. PCS lost in the first round of NorCals after winning the league title in 2014 under coach Harlina Manley. Aptos also lost in the first round when it qualified for the tournament in 2015.
“I definitely didn’t expect to make it this far,” sophomore libero Noa Harrison said. “We’ve already made PCS history being the first team to make it this far.”
The fuel for the Pumas’ extended road trip seems to be the lack of distance between the players. For all these recent road matches, the players have traveled together. Instead of dispersing to family cars after Thursday’s match, they all loaded up in the bus, went out to eat together and stayed up talking until the bus arrived in Santa Cruz in the wee hours of the morning. Prior to their home matches, they grab a snack together at a nearby sandwich shop. And when the season is over, most will meet again on the court while competing for the same club team.
They’re in this together, and they’re having fun with it.
“I think what it is is we know who we are as a team, and we know how we should play,” Wyatt Harrison said. “I’ve been really surprised and impressed with how we’ve been able to come back at certain times this season. I wouldn’t have expected that after last year. We’re more calm. We kind of know how to deal with it.”
One of those key comebacks came during their CCS championship against Saratoga. The two-time defending champion Falcons, behind 6-foot-6 outside Joel Schneidmiller — a member of the Team USA youth national team — won the first set of their sectional, 27-25, and maintained a consistent lead until late in the decisive Game 5. Then the Pumas pulled together while the Falcons fell apart, making a serving error and a setting error in the final two plays to hand PCS the title, 25-27, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 15-12.
“I was definitely surprised with the Saratoga win,” Noa Harrison said. “That was a big one. I didn’t really think we could pull that off.”
Saratoga is the defending NorCal champion, stealing the crown from Campolindo, which won the first three. The Falcons already lost one title this season to PCS. It’s doubtful they’ll be willing to let another slip their grasp.
But that may play into the Pumas’ hands. They’re looking forward to a fun game against a team they know can give them all they can handle, and they hope not more. Since boys volleyball doesn’t have a state championship, this will be the end of the road either way.
They might as well enjoy the ride.
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.
