SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — At the midway point of the Monterey Bay League Pacific division season, the Pajaro Valley High Grizzlies are poised to make history.
The program, which started during the 2010-11 school year, has never won a league championship. It came close last season but fell short behind cross-city rival Watsonville High, finishing runner-up to the Wildcatz.
But this year, the MBL-P title is firmly in Pajaro Valley’s grasp.
All the Grizzlies have to do is hang on.
“Right now we’re pretty happy,” said Pajaro Valley senior outside hitter Rafael Betancourt, “but we have to be ready for the rest of the season.”
The overwhelming reaction from the Grizzlies about their impressive 12-4 overall record and their 5-0 start to MBL-P play has been surprise. Betancourt, now in his fourth varsity season, didn’t quite know what to expect from this season. After all, Pajaro Valley did lose the vast majority of a team that earned the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section playoff berth, including powerhouse outside hitter Luis Banuelos, who was the MBL-P Offensive Player of the Year last season.
Pajaro Valley returned just three players from 2016’s squad: senior setter Ruben Garcia, junior outside hitter Geovanny Barajas and Betancourt.
All three have had to not only carry the team offensively but have also had to teach a youthful group that features three sophomores and two freshmen. So far, they’re guiding along the newcomers well enough and the trio has also done its best to make up for Banuelos’ absence.
“We can’t really replace Luis, but we’re close,” said Garcia, the MBL-P’s Setter of the Year last season. “We’re hitting. We’re getting there.”
The “there” they’re aiming for is a return to the CCS playoffs, where they hope they’ll get a do-over after last year’s first-round exit against Archbishop Mitty. The loss still stings but it has served as motivation for the three who were around.
“We went out in the first round and I wasn’t satisfied — I wanted more,” said Barajas, who was moved from middle blocker to outside hitter and is excelling in the new role. “I feel like we could’ve played way better than we did. We now know what it’s like to go to CCS.”
Pajaro Valley seventh-year head coach Jamie Tsuji said her team is more than capable of finishing out the league strong and making it back to the section playoffs, they hope, with their first league title in hand. But the coach also said it won’t be easy. Gilroy High and Watsonville stand in the way.
“This group has some rough edges to work out but at the same time they play really hard,” Tsuji said. “They play up to the energy level of a team. So far they’ve showed some glimpses of what they can be.”
Like the Grizzlies, Watsonville has had to replace plenty after winning the MBL-P title with a perfect 12-0 record last season. The Wildcatz graduated seven seniors, including Pacific division MVP Angel Diaz and All-MBL-P selections Armando Mendez and Federico Silva.
Across town at Monte Vista Christian, the Mustangs are in their second season and have already surpassed last year’s win total. Senior Hunter Schurman and junior J.P. Thrasher are the captains on a young team, which features only one other senior, Jeremy Zwingman, four sophomores and one freshman.
In the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, Mt. Madonna School and Aptos High are in the thick of the league title chase and are trying to catch up to first place Pacific Collegiate School.
Mt. Madonna boasts only one senior — opposite Nate Vince — on its roster of 10 but is far from inexperienced. The Hawks, which are two years removed from their last SCCAL title, have six players back from a team that gained invaluable CCS playoff experience and finished second in the league standings behind two-time defending champ Aptos.
Head coach P.K. McDonald, who led the Hawks to a section title as both a player and a coach, is back at the helm and said this year’s group has continued to improve as the season has progressed. He also added that he is waiting for his team to take a final step, which will make them not only a league title contender but a serious threat come CCS playoff time.
“For us, it’s about making that leap from good to great,” McDonald said. “That’s a really hard leap to make. They’re putting in the work and they’re focused about it but nothing is automatic and we’ve got to see if we can keep doing it day in and day out.”
Sophomore Luca Peruzzi has taken the reigns as the “floor general” and has adjusted well after making the move from setter to outside hitter during the offseason. Junior Zachary Wagner, who backed-up Peruzzi last season, stepped into the vacancy at setter and has been solid.
Juniors Brigg Busenhart, an outside hitter, and John Anthony Dias, the Hawks’ libero, also return a year after being named All-SCCAL selections. Busenhart is one of the league’s top offensive threats with his heavy-handed swings and Dias is speedy and smart in the back line, making life tough for opposing hitters.
The Hawks have also received a nice boost from 6-foot-1 junior middle blocker Jordan Willis, who played volleyball for the first time at the junior varsity level last season and has continued to improve since.
“His work ethic and his attitude is what sets him apart,” said McDonald, who added that Willis’ addition has helped soften the blow of losing 6-foot-5 middle blocker Holden Smith to graduation. “I’ve coached plenty of people who are tall, can jump and are fast but no one has progressed like he has.”
Willis is just another weapon the Hawks will need if they hope to run the table in the second half of their SCCAL season.
Aptos, which won the league outright last season behind two-time SCCAL MVP Kolby Losik, has two losses on its league record already — coming against Mt. Madonna and PCS — but the Mariners are not out of the title chase.
Junior outside hitter Kacey Losik, now in his third varsity season, has dabbled as the Mariners’ setter over the past few weeks and has reinvigorated the Aptos offense in the role.
Losik is one of six Mariners who are back from last season.
Six-foot-5 senior opposite Jayson Guy, junior outside hitter Jordan Notari and junior middle blocker Noah Eitzen all return for second-year head coach Jacob Landel, who guided the Mariners to the CCS semifinals in 2016.
