Stallions head to Valley Championship
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Christian Sylvia gets the ball over the net during Thursday’s three-set sweep over the Edison Tigers in the Div. II Central Section semifinals. Sylvia recorded nine kills in the victory.
With a resounding three-set sweep over the Edison-Fresno Tigers, the Madera South Stallions took one more step to claiming the program’s first Valley Championship.
The top-seeded Stallions easily dispatched the ninth-seeded Tigers by a combined 75-44 in the Div. II Valley semifinals and hosted No. 2 seed Sunnyside-Fresno on Tuesday for the Div. II title.
“It’s exciting, but at the same time, nerve racking,” senior Adrian Alvarez said. “It’s the first time we’ve had the Valley Championship on this campus. I’m excited for this.”
“Coach (Nate) Perez and the rest of the coaching staff came up with a plan,” head coach Steve Guglielmana said. “They work really hard putting this together. It’s been a good run. Things are falling into place. We have one more game before we can look beyond that.”
The Stallion boys team matches what the girls’ team did in November to become the only school with a team in the Central Section boys and girls volleyball championship match. However, the boys hope to come away with the title that eluded the girls.
“That doesn’t happen very often in any sport. It’s something special,” Guglielmana said. “
Alvarez helped the Stallions’ offense that combined for 37 kills, including a game-high 13 from Jared Guglielmana. Christian Sylvia had nine kills with four blocks. Ruben Jaimez and Javier Maciel each had five kills.
“For us, it’s the world,” Alvarez said. “We’ve grinded for this since we were freshmen. We were hoping for this and I’m glad it’s going to happen.”
The Stallions got the ball rolling in the right direction with a dominating first set victory.
Solo blocks from Sylvia and Guglielmana helped the Stallions to a 4-0 lead. Sylvia and Guglielmana put down kills to jump out to a 6-1 lead.
Alvarez served up a point. Jaimez put down back-to-back kills to open the lead to seven.
Sylvia put down a side out kill and a solo block while Guglielmana added another kill for a 16-6 lead. A Guglielmana side out kill led to a Sylvia ace to open the lead to 11.
A Jaimez kill kept the lead at 11 and a Maciel side out kill with a kill from Sebastian Moreno gave the Stallions a 12-10 lead.
A pair of Edison service errors gave the Stallions the 25-13 first set victory.
Kills from Sylvia and Guglielmana gave the Stallions the early second set lead. An Alvarez dump kill followed by an Alvarez ace and a Guglielmana kill gave the Stallions a 7-3 lead.
The two teams exchanged eight straight side outs. Edison missed three straight serves in the run and missed 10 in the match.
A dual block from Sylvia and Alvarez gave the Stallions a 12-7 lead. After an Edison missed serve, Alvarez served up three points helped by a Jaimez kill to open the lead to nine.
Edison battled back to cut the lead to four despite side out tip kills from Jaimez and Sylvia.
The Tigers cut the lead down to four before a Sylvia tip kill. After an Edison side out, Maciel put down a kill for set point. Alvarez sent a serve that wasn’t returned for a 25-19 Madera South victory.
The Stallions took control early in the third set with Moreno serving up 10 straight points. In the run, Guglielmana had four kills while Sylvia had a solo block and Alvarez put down a kill.
Side out kills from Sylvia and Gugliema and an ace from Alvarez opened the lead to 15-3.
Edison kept chipping away and cut the lead down to eight. Maciel put down a side out kill and Moreno stuffed an Edison dump attempt for a 19-7 lead.
The Tigers cut the lead down to nine, but that was as close as Madera South would let them.
Gugliemana put down a side out kill for a 22-12 lead. Alvarez recorded a solo block, Syliva served up an ace for match point and Ismael Ambriz put down the match’s final point on his only kill of the match for a 25-12 victory.
