Jackson Cryst’s 54 kills send Sage Hill boys’ volleyball to first CIF championship

NORWALK â€”  Jackson Cryst’s arrival instantly transformed Sage Hill’s boys’ volleyball program into a powerhouse, and the first tangible reward arrived Saturday on the biggest of stages.

A dominant Cryst posted 54 kills, an astonishing total, to power the Lightning to a 19-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13 triumph over San Marino in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 title game. He was phenomenal if hardly perfect, but the victory required the efforts of all involved, not just the 6-foot-10 centerpiece.

Sage Hill (22-9) had to rally twice from one-set deficits, then staved off the fourth-seeded Titans’ late fifth-set push to claim a dramatic win at Cerritos College in both programs’ first CIF final. It was the unranked Lightning’s fourth win in five playoff games over a top-10 foe, the second in five sets, and the most difficult of the bunch.

The Sage Hill boys’ volleyball team celebrates after scoring to win the CIF Southern Section Division 5 championship on Saturday.

(James Carbone)

“We know how to pull it out when it’s tight,” said Sage Hill coach Shelby Young. “We also, I think, like the drama of making it a little tight. ... Sage Hill volleyball is what we always finish with, and I think sometimes we can get caught up in the gravity of the game, the opponent or what have you, but that fact that we finish — it’s more how you finish than how you start, and we know that.”

The Lightning finished gloriously, using a 9-2 tear to turn a 7-7 fourth set into a romp, then leapt to a quick six-point edge before holding on gamely after San Marino (24-7-1) pulled within a point four times in the final set. Adept defense all over the court was pivotal, but Cryst’s ability to finish plays made the difference.

The junior Long Beach Millikan transfer, who’s being pursued by NCAA champion UCLA and runner-up Long Beach State, totaled double-digit kills in every set but the third, when he had nine. Ten of Sage Hill’s fifth-set points, the winner included, came from his swings, a handful of them explosive spikes that left an organized and gifted Titans defense no hope.

Sage Hill’s Jackson Cryst (12) spikes the ball against San Marino’s Luca Moggio (32) on Saturday.

(James Carbone)

Cryst’s teammates collectively added 15 kills, nine from sophomore opposite Connor Gapp.

“The more he gets an opportunity, the more he shines,” Young said of Gapp.

Senior middle blocker Aidan Powell had three kills and a block. Senior setter Brayden Brien, junior middle blocker Omar Al-Khatib, and libero Dylan Han and outside hitter Ryan Manesh, both sophomores, also made big contributions.

Sage Hill’s Ryan Manesh (5) spikes the ball against San Marino in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 final on Saturday.

(James Carbone)

Cryst has 200 kills in five playoff games, along with 21 blocks — he had three Saturday — and nine aces.

“Six-[foot]-10 will do that for you,” said Young, whose team is 16-3 since Cryst became eligible in mid-March. “And the experience that he has and the upbringing [by former pro Geoff Cryst, a Long Beach State standout in the 1990s]. He comes from a long line of high-level volleyball. He’s got it.”

Cryst wasn’t perfect. The ball was a lighter ball than what he’s used to — he had three service errors, sent four swings into the net and had several that sailed long, and “could have been more efficient,” he acknowledged — and Young said it was “a pretty good example of, like, he’s still human.”

Sage Hill’s Jackson Cryst (12) backhands the ball over the net against San Marino in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 final.

(James Carbone)

He nearly wasn’t enough. San Marino, which hadn’t dropped a playoff set, used 4-0, 9-2 and 7-2 runs to sprint to the first-set win, finished the third set on a 9-4 tear for a 2-1 advantage, then turned a 10-4 deficit into a one-point clash in the final set behind a versatile crew led by left-handed opposite Casey Chan (15 kills, two blocks), middle blocker Luca Moggio (12 kills and two blocks) and expert setter Jared Wang.

The Titans, who had fewer (51) kills than Cryst, made late charges in all three sets that Sage Hill won, turning six-point deficits into close encounters in the second and fourth sets before that fifth-set rally fell short.

“It was good that we went through that adversity [in the earlier playoff rounds],” said Cryst. “I feel like [our bracket] was a lot more difficult than [San Marino’s]. We had a game go to five sets [the second-round win at Camarillo], we had a game go to four sets [two: at Fullerton in the opener and against No. 2 Moreno Valley Rancho Verde in the quarterfinals.

“We were battle-tested, they hadn’t dropped a set, so I feel like they weren’t ready, and that’s how we got that jump out of the gate, and that’s why we could continue to push even when it got to scary side-out, side-out volleyball. We really thought it’s our volleyball [toward the end], that we just have to play our volleyball. We’re better, and everybody has that supreme level of confidence, no matter where the ball goes. We have confidence in our ability to play volleyball as a unit. It doesn’t have to be one guy.”

Sage Hill’s Jackson Cryst (12) and Omar Al-Khatib (7) block San Marino’s Luca Moggio (32) in the CIF Division 5 final.

(James Carbone)

Young’s message to her team after the third-set loss: “We’re either ending their season or they’re ending ours. How bad do you want it? What are you willing to do to get that win?”

“We can take care of business. We totally can,” she said. “And I think the more we are able to get ahead, stay ahead and finish, the more we’ll see that that’s our level. We don’t have to fight, let’s just take it.”

Sage Hill came into the playoffs without much fanfare — it hadn’t won a playoff game since a 2018 wild-card triumph, hadn’t won within the bracket since 2010 — but arrived with great confidence, and Cryst called the title “great for the school, kind of building a culture in volleyball.”

Sage Hill’s Connor Gapp (1) spikes past San Marino’s Jeffrey Li (13) in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 final.

(James Carbone)

It didn’t surprise anyone within the program.

“We worked toward this all season, so it’s nice to have everything come to fruition ...,” Gapp said. “We always believed that we would win.”

Sage Hill lost at Valencia West Ranch 25-14, 19-25, 25-17, 25-18 in a CIF State Southern California Regional Division III opener on Tuesday, ending its season. Second-seeded West Ranch was the Division 4 champion in the Southern Section.