Westchester High School’s Brandon Kim, left, and Menas Stevens attempt to block a spike attempt by Eagle Rock’s Daniel Cruz in the City Section Division II boys volleyball title game. Westchester won, 16-25, 31-29, 25-21, 25-17. (Photo by Gary McCarthy)
Story Created:
May 22, 2010 at 4:25 PM PST
Story Updated:
May 26, 2010 at 12:20 PM PST
To finish off tough opponents, it helps to have a killer instinct. It also helps to have a Greg Faulkner.
Westchester High School had that and more and used them to defeat top-seeded Eagle Rock, 16-25, 31-29, 25-21, 25-17 for the City Section Division II boys volleyball championship Saturday at Roybal Learning Center.
The 6-foot-7 Faulkner, who has signed with Cal State Northridge, proved to be too tall a task for the Eagles, who had no answer for him and the rest of the Comets.
Faulkner had 29 kills, including 10 in the deciding game four. His last kill gave the Comets (15-3) a 24-17 lead and Chris Chapelle’s service ace finished off the match.
“He’s played like this all year,” Comets coach Brian Gayer said. “I thought he was consistent today. He was hitting the ball well and finding the holes. Eagle Rock played very solid defense.”
“28 (Faulkner) is legit,” Eagle Rock coach Tim Bergeron said. “I thought 21 (Chapelle) was pretty good, too.”
He admitted the Comets size advantage provided challenges for the Eagles.
“No matter how well the defense is set up, they can still hit over it,” he said. “It was extremely difficult dealing with it.”
Gayer said the entire Comets team has come a long way from humble beginnings. He pointed out this group of seniors won a single game two years ago and was a .500 team last season. The Comets tied for second with Venice behind Palisades, a Division I finalist, in the Western League.
As the No. 3 seed in Division II, Westchester defeated Contreras, King-Drew and No. 2 Verdugo Hills to reach the final.
“To win a City title is huge,” Gayer said. “It’s taken a lot of hard work by a senior-led group. I can’t say I was expecting to win it from the start, but I thought it was possible.”
Eagle Rock (14-2) took game one, 25-16 behind senior outside hitter Anthony Barahona’s five kills (he had 20 total).
But the tide turned during an entertaining game two in which the Comets outlasted Eagle Rock, 31-29, clinching on Faulkner’s block. Faulkner had nine kills and two blocks in that one.
Faulkner and Chapelle combined for nine kills, Faulkner providing the final one that produced a 25-21 game three victory. Menas Stevens, Calvin Tucker and Patrick Dolan also came up with kills during the game.
In game four, Westchester began pulling away after the Eagles tied the score, 11-11 on a kill by Barahona. Faulkner scored three of the next four goals and the Comets were on their way.
A number of Eagle Rock players performed well, including Daniel Cruz, Bryan Mendoza and Cory Cooper.
“These guys put a lot of time in and had a passion for volleyball,” Bergeron said. “They wanted this so bad. I thought we maximized our potential.”
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