Calvary Chapel Downey players celebrate their win over Southlands Christian in the CIF second round boys volleyball match at Calvary Chapel Downey on Monday. The Grizzlies defeated Southlands Christian 3-1. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

Editor’s note: This article was originally published Thursday, May 7. It has been updated with results from Thursday’s game against Vasquez.

DOWNEY – The Calvary Chapel Boys Volleyball team are on another roll in the playoffs, as they have advanced to their third consecutive CIF-SS Semifinal match.

A 5-set, 21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 15-10 win over Avalon (Thursday May 7) punched its ticket for Saturday’s CIF D9 match against Vasquez (Acton).

With the semifinal win, Calvary improved to 16-16 overall. The Grizzlies, who were runners up in last years’ CIF D9 final, lost to Avalon two years ago in the semifinals.

“The game went as I expected it to go,” said Calvary coach Jeremiah Mitte, of the quarterfinal win over Avalon. “Neither team gave up and every player left exhausted.

“Avalon came for a fight and my team answered. The first set was the staging point for a long night as we came out slow and sluggish to the point where I had to make a point and wake my team up. To which they answered.

“Pushing the game to four games where we started great and hit a rough patch, Avalon pushed game five. I thank God my boys didn’t give up. All I can say to that is I am privileged to coach a team of players that are always striving for better.”

Leading the way in the quarterfinal win over Avalon was sophomore middle blocker Blake Roemheld with a game-high 21 kills and 31 digs. Freshman outside hitter Levi Morales added 13 kills and 10 digs, while senior setter Luke Neff had 39 assists and 19 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Daniel Velasco added 22 digs.

The quarterfinal win was preceded by a 3-1 second round win over visiting Southlands Christian (Rowland Heights) Monday May 4.

“My boys decided to play against a team that always has given us trouble,” said Mitte, of Southlands. “They’ve been league rivals for the last few years and this year they weren’t in our league. We did see them at the beginning of the season. Southlands is not a team to never underestimate and are well-coached.

“It was definitely a great game. Tough on the heart for sure and it was one of the best ones of the season by far.”

Leading the way for Calvary was sophomore middle blocker Blake Roemheld with 13 kills. He also had a match-high 23 digs and added two assists. Senior setter Luke Neff also had a match-high 26 assists, and added 17 digs and two kills, while freshman outside hitter Levi Morales had nine kills and eight digs.

In the first set, Southlands got off to a 5-0 lead, before the Grizzlies scored a point on a kill by Neff. The Grizzlies came back and outscored Southlands to climb within two points, 7-5.

From there it was a back-and-forth game until Calvary took its first lead of the set, 11-10, on a kill by Roemheld.

The Grizzlies, who placed second in the Academy League to Webb, had two separate runs of three consecutive points each to build up a five-point, 20-15 lead.

However, the Eagles reeled off seven consecutive points, which included two kills and two aces to retake the lead, 22-20.

After a point by each team, Morales had a kill for Calvary to trail, 23-22.

Later, Neff added his first kill of the set to get the Grizzlies even, 24-24.

Southlands finished the set with two kills to win 26-24 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The second set had seven ties, with five kills by the Grizzlies with the score tied, 10-10.

The set went back-and-forth, like the first one, but ended up in favor of the Grizzlies.

After the 12th tie of the match at 16-16, Calvary took control winning five of the next six points to lead, 21-17. Highlighting that stretch were kills by Roemheld and Morales to build up the biggest lead of the set.

Leading 22-19, Roemheld, perhaps, had the biggest kill of the set, after an assist from freshman libero Asael Garcia for the 23-19 lead. That was followed by a kill by freshman opposite Jeremiah Parra for the game point at 24-19.

“Garcia has improved throughout the season as he is a freshman,” said Mitte, of one of his three first-year players. “Ya, he was huge in that match.”

However, four consecutive points later found the Eagles within a point, 24-23.

In the midst of the fourth set point, the officials stopped play and

awarded the Grizzlies a point as the Southlands setter stepped under the net to end the set. Calvary won, 25-23 to even the match 1-1.

For the second time in the match, Southlands came out with another early 4-0 lead.

Behind four Eagles errors, a kill by Morales and two kills by Southlands, the Grizzlies trailed by a point, 6-5.

Again, Southlands went on a 6-1 run to build up a six-point advantage, 12-6.

Calvary stayed close and trailed, 17-14, on three kills by Neff and a kill by Roemheld.

Asked about sophomore Roemheld’s improvement from his first year to now, Mitte simply said, “He has (improved) and he only wants to get better from here.”

Led by a pair of kills by Morales, the Grizzlies caught Southlands for the first tie of the set, 17-17.

A few points later, a combination kill/block by the front line duo of Neff and Roemheld to lead, 24-22, put the Grizzlies at set point and a 2-1 lead in the match.

A Calvary service error only briefly held them from clinching the set win, but Roemheld went way up high for the big slam into the middle of the court for the win.

After an early 9-8 lead by Southlands in the fourth set, Morales had a kill for the 10-9 lead. That was the first point of a 6-1 run to build up a 15-10 lead and they never trailed the rest of the way.

Three errors by Southlands, a service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Daniel Velasco and a kill by Morales highlighted the run.

The biggest lead of the set came after a service error and a ball hit out of bounds by Southlands and an ace by Roemheld gave the Grizzlies an insurmountable, 22-16 lead.

A late charge by the eagles with three consecutive points to come within three points, 22-19, created a mild stir from the boisterous home crowd.

However, a kill by Roemheld and a surprise tip over by Neff put the Grizzlies within a point of the match to lead, 24-23.

With Neff, Morales and sophomore middle Mark Maya on the front line, a dig by Roemheld followed by the 26th set by Neff, Morales sent the Grizzlies to the quarterfinals with a kill to end the match.

Coming up big in the match at the front and his serving was junior opposite Andrew Rubio and sophomore defensive specialist Samuel Sandoval also with great serving.

What they said:

Luke Neff, senior setter: “We have some freshmen that are new (on the team), a lot of sophomores that are still new to this and they are all giving it their all.

My other senior, libero Asael (Garcia), is his first year playing volleyball with no experience at all. He’s playing very well and I’m so happy for him.”

Blake Roemheld, sophomore middle: “Volleyball is my only sport now and it means a lot to me. It feels amazing to win. With the help from God, we did it.

A lot of our success has to do with our coaches with the freshmen coming in and now they’re stepping up and they’re playing. Our coach can take most of the credit for that.”

Levi Morales, freshman outside: “During our game we pushed through, we covered, played defense and we talked and we made our serves.”

Calvary Chapel boys volleyball defeats Avalon to reach CIF Semifinals