Volleyball: Kares Sweep Southwestern Academy in Wildcard Round

The Rio Hondo Prep Kares had no trouble in the wildcard round of the Division 5 CIF-Southern Section boys volleyball playoffs, taking down Southwestern Academy in straight sets Monday night, 25-15, 25-13 and 25-17.

“Being in the Prep League helps us get ready for games like these,” Kares coach Randy Johnson said. “I thought we played as well as we have all season. It’s good to be playing this good at a time like this.”

Rio Hondo Prep took control the entire game, capitalizing on every Sun mistake. The Kares managed to flow with their best performance of the season, executing most of their attacks. Though Rio Hondo did trail in two of the three sets, they managed to hold off big rallies to put each set away.

Southwestern played shorthanded, missing a number of players due to the 7 p.m. start of the game. A special program put by Southwestern allows students to take college credit courses at Pasadena City College, and due to the time of the game, the Sun was left shorthanded.

“Being shorthanded, I’m very proud at how we came out today,” Sun coach Robert Gibbs said. “We faced this team three times this season, and after watching them play, this had to be the best I have seen all year. Our guys though I thought played strong under pressure and played better than we had against them in our third try.”

Sam French led Rio Hondo Prep with 14 kills. Colby Rivera had six aces, including five in a row during the third set. Jon Kim had five aces for Southwestern.

“It was just a major confidence factor for me,” Rivera said. “All my serves were floating in the right spots, and our team executed very well today.”

After the Kares trailed early in the first set, French rallied the troops on a four-point swing giving them a 9-7 edge. Capped off with a handful of aces and attack errors by Southwestern, the Kares grew the lead up to 20-13, forcing the Sun to call time out. Kevin Horton sealed the first set victory, serving the final three of five points and ending with an attack error by the Sun.

The trend continued in the second game. The Kares again had to rally trailing 5-2 to start the second frame, but Horton and Charles Quintero played well along the net as their rebounded to take a 12-7 lead. The Sun lost control with a handful of errors, and the Kares rallied to end the second set on a 13-6 run.

Rivera controlled the third set, using his five straight aces to put the Kares well ahead 14-3. The Sun managed a small comeback, but Rio Hondo Prep once again controlled the tempo to pick up the 25-17 victory to win the match.

As Rio Hondo Prep moves on to face St. Monica Catholic (winner of the Camino Real League) on Tuesday in the first round, Southwestern is glad to end its season on a high note, making the playoffs for the second time in three years.

“I thought this time around this was our best game,” Gibbs said. “We started off playing poorly to begin the year, but came along and improved game by game to get to this point."