Aptos High’s season came to an end on Thursday night.
A lack of effort wasn’t the reason for the Mariners’ demise.
Playing in its first-ever CIF NorCal Division II semifinal match, No. 4 Aptos gave top-seeded Amador Valley High everything it could handle in a 25-20, 19-25, 25-13, 23-25, 23-21 loss in Pleasanton.
With the defeat, Aptos completes its season with a 28-6 overall record.
Amador Valley improves to 29-6 and hosts the winner of No. 3 The Harker School and No. 2 Carmel High on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Aptos, the runner-up of the Central Coast Section D-II playoffs, entered Thursday on a wave of momentum after a dominant sweep over No. 5 Acalanes High on Tuesday night, but it couldn’t knock off the North Coast Section D-I runner-up.
Amador Valley, ranked 56th in the nation by MaxPreps.com, also swept its opponent, No. 8 Del Oro High, in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday.
Outright champions of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, the Mariners were back in the NorCal playoffs for the first time since 2015. They lost to Las Lomas High, of Walnut Creek, in the quarterfinal round that year with now-seniors Christian Segura, Michael Spinelli, Noah Eitzen and Kacey Losik on the roster.
All four will graduate on June 7, along with Reef Townsend and Jordan Notari.
