Boys volleyball: Redwood sweeps Tam for back-to-back titles

Senior Jack Alley saw the Redwood High boys volleyball team come of age last season as the Giants hoisted the MCAL pennant after sweeping Tam High.

“Redwood volleyball is here to stay,” exclaimed Alley after the Giants successfully defended their title with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 sweep of the Red-tailed Hawks in Friday’s MCAL championship rematch at Archie Williams High.

The Giants (23-6, 16-0 MCAL) ran the table against the league this season, including a 3-1 victory over Tam on March 19, and a 3-2 victory against the Hawks eight days later.

“We built up the program and last year we got to the top,” Alley said. “This year has been all about dominating and defending our title. It was really important that we didn’t lose a single (MCAL) game all season. And it’s great to finish it off with a three-set win.”

The win boosts the Giants’ momentum heading into next week’s North Coast Section playoffs, while the Hawks are looking to prove they are better than their record. NCS seedings and brackets will be announced on Sunday.

“I know how good we are and we could make a name for ourselves,” said Tam senior captain Yaseen Ashraf, who was playing in the MCAL finals for the fourth time. “The eventual goal is to get to the NCS finals and to play in State. That would be something I haven’t done yet.”

The Giants rallied from an early hole against the Red-tailed Hawks for a 6-5 lead in the opening game Friday. The teams battled back and forth to a 12-12 stalemate before Redwood senior hitter Charlie Gehrman powered home back-to-back kills to give the Giants the lead for good en route to a 25-19 win.

“They have really good service, and their defense is so good so we can’t take anything for granted,” Ashraf said. “We have to earn every point rather than being given easy points. And they hit. They hit really, really hard.”

Redwood continued the momentum into the second set, but Tam still had some fight left.

“Being here in the finals again meant a lot,” Ashraf said. “We were meant to be here. It just didn’t go the way we wanted.”

Tam’s Alex Read and Owen Penrose battled at the front line against Redwood’s Beckett Shewey and Gehrman. The Hawks couldn’t match the size or power of the 6-foot-7 Shewey, who had a game-high 18 kills to go with two aces and two blocks.

Tam’s fearless blocking and shrewd ballhandling at the net did produce enough scoring opportunities to keep the action tense.

Redwood’s Evan Wang, one of the smaller players on the court, showed his athleticism as he soared above the net to hammer the ball downward for a kill that gave the Giants a six-point lead. Leighton Olsen, Lucas Anderson and Shewey, playing with fiery emotion, continued to pound away at the Hawks as the Giants closed out the second set.

Redwood led wire-to-wire in the final two sets, and looked to quickly wrap up the night. While the Giants stood tall on the front line, Alley was setting the table for his teammates.

“Jack Alley, he just passes every ball so perfectly and sets their team up in their system and runs a good offense every time,” Ashraf said of Redwood’s Oregon-bound libero. “He’s definitely the most dangerous person on (Redwood’s) team. Also, he’s hard to see because he’s a small guy, but he’s probably still the most dangerous person.”

Alley’s defense thrilled the crowd as he lunged for the ball time and again to come up with unbelievable digs and rev up the Redwood rally.

“It’s been a great rivalry,” Alley said. “It’s great coming back after beating them last year, we knew that they were going to come back harder, and they did. I think we played really hard and played great.”

Redwood went on a 7-1 roll in the third set, highlighted by Shewey’s tightrope skills. Off balance, he popped the ball over the net for the kill, but had to steady himself to keep from falling under the net. His feet stayed barely on the Redwood side of the net, while his posterior poked across the line. The Falcons argued Shewey was offsides, but officials went with the position of Shewey’s feet.

The Giants powered to the finish as Shewey delivered the final point to close out the third set and start the title celebrations.