{"id":340278,"date":"2026-05-31T14:43:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/340278\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:43:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:43:37","slug":"santa-cruz-caps-historic-postseason-with-first-state-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/340278\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Cruz caps historic postseason with first state championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO \u2014 For the CIF State Division III boys volleyball championship match, SoCal champ Central East took a nine-mile trip across town to Fresno City College. NorCal king Santa Cruz traveled much further, bussing 154 miles to the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the Bengals brought their fans in loads. But the Cardinals brought four big hitters, strong defense, led by senior libero Lucas Kamalani, and aggressive serving that broke the spirit of Central East in the Cardinals\u2019 26-28, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18 victory Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Cruz High libero Lucas Kamalani dives for a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

With its win, Santa Cruz (29-13 overall) completed a postseason trifecta, earning the program\u2019s first state title after securing historic banner wins at the Central Coast Section<\/a> and NorCal Regional<\/a> tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m stoked,\u201d Kamalani said. \u201cWe\u2019re the first (boys volleyball) team in school history to win a state title. It\u2019s awesome to be a part of that. We dialed in on our serving and tried to get them out of system. On defense, everyone was really scrappy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior outside hitter\/right side Matty Rayray led Santa Cruz with 18 kills and just five errors in 42 attempts, a .310 attack percentage. He added five aces. His kills, blocks and spirit were a huge part of the Cardinals\u2019 turnaround from a dead-even first set to three dominant sets for the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is very dynamic,\u201d Santa Cruz coach Peter Edwards said. \u201cA lot of fire, a lot of energy. He gets the team really going. He fires everyone up. And once we get going, we\u2019re hard to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s Charlie Hess lunges as he attempts to make a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High libero Lucas Kamalani dives for a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s James Bush makes a block against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s Matty Rayray tips the ball over the net against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High libero Lucas Kamalani makes a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s Matty Rayray, right, battles at the net against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High outside hitter Charlie Hess makes a kill against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High boys volleyball head coach Peter Edwards talks to his players after the Cardinals dropped the first set at the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High’s Nathan Monroe sets the ball for the Cardinals during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s Felippe Zacarias Melo, left, and Guillermo Mazier attempt a block against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High’s boys volleyball team celebrates winning CIF Division III State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High setter Lucas Hansen reacts after twisting his ankle in set two against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz High\u2019s Matty Rayray serves an ace in set two against Central East of Fresno during the CIF State boys volleyball championships at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Santa Cruz High\u2019s Charlie Hess lunges as he attempts to make a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Success came with the trademark diverse offense beyond Rayray, with seven kills from senior outside hitter Charlie Hess, seven kills and four aces from junior outside\/opposite Felippe Zacarias Melo and six kills from senior middle Guillermo Mazier. Every one of that quartet pounded balls down to the floor with power. On the balls that Central East could dig, they were often forced into free balls just to clear the net.<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Cruz High\u2019s Charlie Hess lunges as he attempts to make a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy and proud,\u201d Rayray said. \u201cWe did exactly as we wanted and we executed really well. After the first set, we controlled ourselves and calmed down. The difference was our service pressure. Our serve receive was good enough and we kept the ball in the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz also shined at setting with 20 assists from senior Nathan Monroe and 19 from classmate Lucas Hansen. Kamalani paced the back row with 18 digs, Zacarias Melo had 10 and Hess had nine.<\/p>\n

Central East (29-15) was led by senior opposite Jeremiah Phaysamone with 15 kills and senior outside\/right side O\u2019Shawn Roberts with 11. The stat sheet showed 10 serve receive errors for the Bengals compared to just one for the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great,\u201d Monroe said. \u201cWe bounced back after the first set. We pulled a blocker off covering tips to dig number 15 (Phaysamone, especially on the tight cross). We played very clean. We talked about moving them on our serves and they didn\u2019t pass well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Cruz High\u2019s Matty Rayray tips the ball over the net against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

As Santa Cruz turned the tide and began dominating the match, the emotional outbursts from the bench, on-court players and their fans were the primary sound in the gym. Each Central East timeout resulted in joyous cheering and chest bumps on the Santa Cruz bench, while the large black-and-orange crowd put down their foam fingers and sunk in their seats.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the end of the match, coach Edwards substituted liberally and the Cardinals enjoyed the historic moment. The Cardinals stormed the court following the final point, and remained a giddy bunch during the trophy presentation and post-match pictures with their new hardware.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we bounced back really well,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cWe went with our game plan. We served aggressively and got them out of system. Our serving would take out their middle option. Then we could get the block and the defense lined up on their outsides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SantaSanta Cruz High libero Lucas Kamalani makes a save against Central East of Fresno during the CIF Division III Boys Volleyball State Championship at Fresno City College on Saturday. (John Lee – Santa Cruz Sentinel)<\/p>\n

After barely dropping a tight first set, Santa Cruz jumped on top 8-2 in the second. Six aces led to a blowout victory. Rayray ripped three in a row, two with topspin rockets and then an off-speed short ball. On the offense, Rayray and Hess were scoring nearly at will.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (Santa Cruz) are a strong team,\u201d Central East coach Hue Lee said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t capitalize (block) their outsides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zacarias Melo was on fire in the third set with five early kills, followed by a block of Bengals\u2019 power hitter Jeremiah Phaysamone. Rayray ended the set with two topspin serving aces, a blast that was shanked and a bullet that landed just inside the back line as the CE players stood and watched.<\/p>\n

The Bengals had one last flurry in the fourth set, jumping to an early lead. Santa Cruz quickly erased that as Zacarias Melo fired three straight aces. With each, the Cardinals roared. A 14-1 SC run cemented the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great,\u201d Zacarias Melo said. \u201cEight of our players are seniors. I\u2019m super proud of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE SCORES<\/p>\n

CIF D-III State Championship<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz 3, Central East 1<\/p>\n

26-28, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO \u2014 For the CIF State Division III boys volleyball championship match, SoCal champ Central East took a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[140207,140218,140216,140219,140209,140213,112,114,113,140222,140217,140214,140220,140211,140215,140210,140212,140221,140208],"class_list":["post-340278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-2026-cif-boys-volleyball-state-championship","tag-central-east-bengals","tag-charlie-hess","tag-coach-hue-lee","tag-coach-peter-edwards","tag-felippe-zacarias-melo","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-gordon-kass","tag-guillermo-mazier","tag-james-bush","tag-jeremiah-phaysamone","tag-lucas-hansen","tag-lucas-kamalani","tag-matty-rayray","tag-nathan-monroe","tag-oshawn-roberts","tag-santa-cruz-high-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}