Francis Parker, Point Loma will play for state championships after winning regional volleyball titles

Miles Custer and Kevin O’Brien earned All-America honors this year for the Francis Parker boys volleyball team.

Custer has received offers to play at the next level next year, and O’Brien arrived home this week after playing with the USA Volleyball under-19 team.

But as bright as Custer and O’Brien shined this year, the Lancers are still playing because they can and do beat teams in a multitude of ways.

Saturday’s CIF State Division 2 Southern California Regional Championship at home was a perfect example. The Lancers used a well-rounded attack and a ferocious defense to advance to the state championship match with a 25-21, 25-18,25-15 sweep over Orange Lutheran.

“So many players got so much better ter over the course of this year,” Francis Parker coach Q Chambers said. “(They) worked super hard, and it’s a beautiful thing when you could set anywhere and be able to find the floor.”

Francis Parker (31-10) will play Sanger (31-13) in next weekend’s Division 2 state title match at Fresno City College.

And Point Loma (23-12), which won a section title for the first time in program history over the weekend, will play Placerville El Dorado (23-12) in the Division 4 match at Fresno City College on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Francis Parker’s match is slated for Saturday at 4 p.m. For now.

The day, time and place may all be in flux because the seniors on the team are slated to be somewhere else at that time — their graduation.

“I heard there’s a chance that we go (on) Friday instead of Saturday,” Chambers said. “We’re certainly going to be shooting for that because obviously we don’t want to take away from graduation. Hopefully, they could go get a state championship and graduate, too.”

Custer led the way in the regional title win, logging a match-high 19 kills with a pair of aces.

The 6-foot-6 outside hitter is averaging an astounding 4.0 kills per set this season, and Saturday, he had at least five in each set.

“Being able to spread our offense out that well, we have a lineup where all guys can get kills,” said Custer, who is headed to the University of Oregon. “It makes hitting so much easier, and so I’m grateful for it all. We’ve come so far this year.”

Senior setter Iker Salgado ran the offense to near-perfection, tallying 44 assists.

“I know that wherever I put the ball, these guys can get to it and put a good ball down,” Salgado said. “I’m just completely confident in my team and knowing that I’m a good enough setter to put the ball where they want it, and I know they can finish the job. My team is great.”

Salgado connected with the 6-11 O’Brien for 12 kills. O’Brien also three stuff blocks.

“We like to pride ourselves on defense,” said O’Brien, who, along with Poway’s Daniel Hornyak, helped the Team USA U19 team win a silver medal at the 2026 NORCECA Continental Championship. “We’ve spent a lot of time blocking this year, and it’s gotten so much better. Today we showcased it.”

Seniors Abisai Martinez and Ben Dragasits each chipped in with six kills and an ace against Orange Lutheran (27-11). Dragasits also had three stuff blocks.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair that featured 12 ties, the last of which came at 17-all. That point ignited an 8-2 lead with Francis Parker going to its strength down the stretch. O’Brien had three kills toward the end of the set, including a back one for a 21-17 lead. Martinez’s trickler ace gave the hosts a 23-18 lead and Custer had big swings on the outside for points 24 and 25.

Francis Parker held a 19-17 lead in set No. 2, then went on a 6-1 run to end it. Custer had eight kills in the set and O’Brien had four and three stuff blocks. Set three was tied at 8-8 when the hosts went on a 9-2 run.

Point Loma outlasted host Christian, 25-19, 23-25, 27-25, 25-17; the Pointers advance to play for the state championship.

Mission Bay traveled to Fresno and nearly made it three San Diego teams in the state championships but came up short in five sets, losing 27-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-25, 15-4, to Central East. The Buccaneers finish the season 31-7. Senior Erik May hit .428 for the match with 24 kills on 49 attacks.  Jack Wainwright had 15 kills on 25 attacks.

Mission Bay came in on a 10-match winning streak; before Saturday, they hadn’t lost a set since April 11.