River Islands’ boys volleyball team knocked off a familiar yet formidable foil to make school history Wednesday night in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.
The fourth-seeded Riptide needed some late-match momentum to overcome No. 14 Ripon and its towering front line in five sets, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 15-8. They’ll face No. 5 John Adams Academy (21-3) in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“This feels amazing,” River Islands senior David Chua said. “No other sport in our school has gone past the first round, so it’s pretty cool to be part of River Islands history.”
River Islands (19-5) had to battle back from deficits all match to hit that milestone. Ripon (15-15) appeared poised to finish off the big upset after scoring the first four points of the final set.
A serving error stumped the momentum, and Riptide took over from there. Nikhil Raj rung up his 15th and final kill of the night to close them in 6-5, and he served the next eight points in a backbreaking run of nine unanswered. The junior outside hitter finished with 20 service points, three of them aces.
Middle blocker Darius Radoc Factoran (11 kills, six blocks) contributed a kill and two blocks during that barrage, and a kill from Chua — who finished with 12 — widened the gap to 13-6.
The Indians finally stopped the bleeding with a kill from Gavin Garner, but that only delayed the inevitable. Shortly after, sophomore setter Urijah DeOcampo clinched the historic victory with a kill.
“This year, we’ve struggled a lot with fifth sets,” Raj said, noting the Riptide’s lone fifth-set win over Manteca at the start of the season.
That was in a Foundation Game, which does not count against records. They since went 0-2 in five-game matches during the regular season.
“We’re a slow-starting team, and sometimes we’ll get in our own head,” River Islands coach Nick Grabowski said. “It happens to the best teams out there, so it’s going to happen to us, but tonight, we prevailed. And that’s what the Riptide do — we prevail.”
Eric Irving tied Raj for match-high honors with 15 kills, Kush Varma Chola chipped in 15 service points, two aces and a solo stuff, and libero Taray Irving anchored the back-row defense.
With four players in double digits on kills, River Islands did well to get spikes past the likes of 6-foot-8 middle Trent Olmo (10 kills, six blocks), 6-5 Sebastian Ceja (five kills, block), 6-5 Gavin Garner (nine kills, three blocks), 6-3 Alex Alvarellos (four kills), 6-3 setter Cade Fullmer (four kills, six blocks, 45 assists, nine digs) and 6-foot Armando Ayon (13 kills, five blocks, 10 digs).
Radoc Factoran is River Islands’ tallest player at 6-2. Eric Irving and Chua — both 6-0 — are the next tallest, and everyone else in the regular rotation is shorter.
“We knew we were the undersized team coming in, but we played big,” Raj said.
The Riptide previously faced Ripon last month in non-league play, sweeping with ease.
The Indians had a different team then, not just with personnel, but in experience. They were battle-hardened by Trans Valley League opponents Ripon Christian and Big Valley Christian, which are both No. 2 seeds in their respective playoff brackets.
Olmo and were Alvarellos were both out in that first showdown with River Islands. In fact, Alvarellos — the team’s top all-around player as a sophomore two years ago — was still on the comeback trail after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL last year. He got to feature in two matches earlier this month and sat out the next four to be ready for postseason play.
Alvarellos provided a boost early on, as Ripon stole the opening set. His final kill of the match gave the Indians a 10-4 lead in the second set, but he sustained a shoulder dislocation two points later while jousting with Irving for a 50-50 ball above the net.
The Indians went on to lose the set but were able to bounce back in a competitive game 3 in which they never trailed.
“(Alvarellos’ injury) deflated us a little, to be honest, but Alex commented that this team is so strong,” Ripon coach Tara Maruyama said. “He said he wasn’t really doing a whole lot out there anyway, but I think he adds certain elements to our team that allows them relax.”
Sophomore libero Hugo Garcia Martinez contributed 10 digs for the Indians. Colt Isham added two kills, three blocks and six digs.
“They beat us in three sets last time, so to come back and play a great match, I’m so proud of the entire team,” Maruyama said. “They left it all out on the court. I am not disappointed or sad at all.”
