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Motivated Cypress completes mission, wins Division 3 volleyball title
Motivated Cypress completes mission, wins Division 3 volleyball title
NORWALK – Cypress completed its two-year ascent under Coach Alex Griffiths, rising from near the bottom of the Empire League to a CIF-SS Division 3 championship with a 25-23, 25-12, 25-21 victory over Bishop Montgomery of Torrance on Saturday at Cerritos College.
The 27-year-old Griffiths, a former star player at Los Alamitos High, Vanguard University and the University of Hawaii, is 36-5 in her only two seasons as a high school coach. It was one of those defeats, to Saddleback Valley Christian in last year’s CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals, that became the benchmark for the program and the motivation for this season
“I’m speechless,” Griffiths said. “It feels amazing. We got into the semis last year not knowing what we were capable of and we found out last year our standards. We knew it was time to come back for revenge.”
Erik Papke, a 6-foot-1 junior, led the Centurions (17-3) with 19 kills and 14 digs. Setter Chris Cons had 42 assists, many set up by his quickness getting to the ball, and eight digs. Senior Andrew Farmer contributed 10 kills and five digs and 6-7 junior Robert Fleming had five kills, two blocks and three block assists.
“Erik is our go-to outside and we’ve got our setter with Cons,” Griffiths said. “We do a really good job framing offense with our setter and we have a person (Papke) who can put the ball away. We have a back-row attack. We e always have an asset and always an outlet, so it’s good.”
Papke is a multi-sport athlete at Cypress, also competing in basketball and track.
“This is a great feeling,” Papke said. “This is real special.”
The 5-11 Coons, who will continue his career at Fullerton’s Hope International next season, was on the Cypress varsity two years ago that finished next-to-last in league.
Coach Alex Griffiths would go on to be named the OC Register Boys Volleyball County Coach of the Year.
Motivated Cypress completes mission, wins Division 3 volleyball title
Cypress Head Coach Alex Griffiths, center, holds up the championship plaque after Saturday’s CIF-SS Division 3 Boys Volleyball Final between Cypress and Bishop Montgomery at Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA Saturday, May 20, 2017. (Photo by Mark Dustin for the Daily Breeze/SCNG)
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Cypress players celebrate after defeating Bishop Montgomery in Saturday’s CIF-SS Division 3 Boys Volleyball Final between Cypress and Bishop Montgomery at Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA Saturday, May 20, 2017. (Photo by Mark Dustin for the Daily Breeze/SCNG)
NORWALK – Cypress completed its two-year ascent under Coach Alex Griffiths, rising from near the bottom of the Empire League to a CIF-SS Division 3 championship with a 25-23, 25-12, 25-21 victory over Bishop Montgomery of Torrance on Saturday at Cerritos College.
The 27-year-old Griffiths, a former star player at Los Alamitos High, Vanguard University and the University of Hawaii, is 36-5 in her only two seasons as a high school coach. It was one of those defeats, to Saddleback Valley Christian in last year’s CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals, that became the benchmark for the program and the motivation for this season
“I’m speechless,” Griffiths said. “It feels amazing. We got into the semis last year not knowing what we were capable of and we found out last year our standards. We knew it was time to come back for revenge.”
Erik Papke, a 6-foot-1 junior, led the Centurions (17-3) with 19 kills and 14 digs. Setter Chris Cons had 42 assists, many set up by his quickness getting to the ball, and eight digs. Senior Andrew Farmer contributed 10 kills and five digs and 6-7 junior Robert Fleming had five kills, two blocks and three block assists.
“Erik is our go-to outside and we’ve got our setter with Cons,” Griffiths said. “We do a really good job framing offense with our setter and we have a person (Papke) who can put the ball away. We have a back-row attack. We e always have an asset and always an outlet, so it’s good.”
Papke is a multi-sport athlete at Cypress, also competing in basketball and track.
“This is a great feeling,” Papke said. “This is real special.”
The 5-11 Coons, who will continue his career at Fullerton’s Hope International next season, was on the Cypress varsity two years ago that finished next-to-last in league.
“It’s (CIF title) an indescribable feeling,” he said. We’ve been hoping for this since last summer.”
Cypress advances to the state tournament, which begins Tuesday.
“We played OK today,” Griffiths said. “I think we could have played a little better. We looked a little nervous, but we have enough room for us to take over state now.”
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