History in the making: St. Mary's boys volleyball wins first playoff game ever over Edison

St. Mary’s boys' volleyball thought it had the game in the bag after going up by two sets against Edison in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 playoffs.

Slowly but surely the Vikings chipped away at the Rams' momentum pushing the game to four sets. The Rams went on to snag a 3-1 victory notching their first postseason win in the program’s history.

“It feels good this win means a lot for us,” said Daniel Huerta, St. Mary’s senior opposite-side hitter. “It’s my senior year so you want to compete in the best way possible and volleyball is a new sport here at St. Mary’s so we’re trying to make history, one game by one.”

Here are the key takeaways from St. Mary’s historic playoff win that will advance it to the SJS D1 quarterfinals on May 7.

Ram's offense overpowers Edison

For the first two sets, the Rams didn’t allow the Vikings to score past 20 points. They took sets one and two with a score of 25-18 thanks to their lethal offensive attack led by Huerta and senior Jayden Hernandez.

Huerta had the hot hand to start the game averaging around five kills per set. The 6-foot-5 senior made the Vikings pay every time he spiked the ball through defenders ending the game with a season-high 21 kills. When it wasn’t Huerta, Hernandez was giving Edison woes. He took over in the final set reeling in five kills to help his team win 25-23.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” said Joe Wortmann, St. Mary’s boys’ volleyball head coach. “They got down for a little bit but they got back together and made some big plays for us at the end. We’ve been beating good teams all year so just got to do what you gotta do.”

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With Huerta and Hernandez leading the charge, St. Mary’s was able to handle business.

Hernandez ended the night with 14 kills and three blocks. The Rams' leading defenders throughout the night were seniors Jackson Whitlock and Alex Peraso who combined for 11 blocks.

Riding the momentum wave

Although things looked grim for the Vikings heading into a do-or-die third set they never stopped battling. Similar to St. Mary’s, Edison doesn’t have a ton of history in the playoffs, making it for the first time in the school’s history just last season.

This gave the Vikings a chip on their shoulder as they would not go out without a fight.

“I just kept reminding my boys to just keep pushing even on the last couple of points I wanted my server to stay aggressive,” said Kaelynne Mendoza, Edison boys’ volleyball head coach. “I would much rather have us lose the game by putting everything out there than just playing soft.”

Mendoza’s squad did just that in the third set with senior Nicholas Vang and junior Vince Tanega leading the comeback rally. Vang ended the game with a team-high 13 kills while Tanega added 10. The duo did everything they could in the third set to fend off the sweep winning it 25-21.

The Vikings' third set dub put the momentum in their hands and pressure on St. Mary’s heading into the fourth set. Luckily for the Rams, they are used to riding the ebb and flow of close matchups and had the most lethal attacker on their side — Huerta.

“For me, volleyball is all energy and momentum type of sport,” Huerta said. “So we just had to keep our heads up and keep battling. All it takes is like a couple of good plays and you’re back on track.”

For almost the entire final set the two teams took turns leading but with a 24-22 lead, the Rams could practically taste the victory. Huerta solidified that hunger smacking down the game-winning kill for a 25-23 finish. He and the Rams will look to continue to ride the momentum wave to the quarterfinals on the road against No. 4 Oak Ridge.

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Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: St. Mary's boys volleyball beats Edison for first ever SJS playoff win