WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley High boy’s volleyball team keeps raking in the firsts.
Grizzlies senior outside hitter Rafael Betancourt recently became the program’s first league MVP, earning the Monterey Bay League Pacific division’s top honor after helping Pajaro Valley to its first-ever title in the spring.
Standing at 5-foot-7, Betancourt was neither the biggest nor the strongest player in the league but his knowledge of the game made him a dangerous weapon on offense and a solid defender on defense.
With Betancourt leading the way, the Grizzlies captured the MBL-Pacific division title and advanced to the Central Coast Section playoffs for the second straight season, where they pushed powerhouse Aptos High to five games in a back-and-forth, first-round battle.
Betancourt said his head coach Jamie Tsuji informed him of the honor after the match against Aptos.
“I was a little surprised,” Betancourt said in a recent phone interview. “I felt like I was more excited that we took Aptos to five sets. No one expected us to hang with them.”
He added after a pause: “But, I’m not going to lie, I was really excited to be named MVP, too.”
There was little doubt that the MVP award would go to one of the Grizzlies, who finished the league season with an impressive 11-1 record — they finished 20-11 overall. Along with Betancourt, senior Ruben Garcia and junior outside hitter Geovanny Barajas were also taken into consideration for the award. Betancourt, who credited his game to his teammates, coaches and the numerous hours of work he put in on the court, wound up being the selection but Garcia and Barajas also earned recognition.
Garcia repeated as the league’s Outstanding Setter and was named to the MBL-P First Team along with Barajas. Betancourt also made the First Team.
“Rafa getting the MVP, he deserved it,” Garcia said of his teammate in a recent phone interview. “He played really well. He did a little bit of everything for us.”
And so did Garcia, who saw his assist totals drop this season but had his kills rise. He said that was a product of the way opponents attacked the Grizzlies. Teams tried to serve to Garcia so that he could not set up his teammates with his patented crisp passes. But Garcia offset that approach with his precision swings from the back row. It also didn’t hurt to have several teammates who could pass and set, too.
“They would try to get the ball to me first. They wanted to get the ball out of my hands,” Garcia said. “That wasn’t a problem. We had a bunch of guys that could pass and set. All our guys were good.”
Pajaro Valley led the MBL-P in all-league selections. Freshman Dennar Ocampo and junior Edwin Chavez made the Second Team.
Monte Vista Christian senior Hunter Schurman was named the league’s Outstanding Offensive Player and also made the First Team after helping the Mustangs to a 9-16 overall record and a 3-9 MBL-P standing.
MVC senior Jeremy Zwingman and junior J.P. Thrasher made the Second Team.
Watsonville High juniors Julian Zepeda and Jorge Maya made the league’s First Team while fellow Wildcat Alejandro Saldana was named to the Second Team.
Watsonville finished third in the league behind Pajaro Valley and runner-up Gilroy High with an 8-4 league record — the Wildcatz were 14-18 overall.
Gilroy senior Eric Heiser was named the league’s Outstanding Defensive Player.
Both Betancourt and Garcia played varsity volleyball all four seasons and said they’ve seen the program gradually grow over the years. As freshmen, the duo was a part of a Pajaro Valley team that won only once. But during their sophomore season they swept the series against cross-city rival Watsonville and last season they finished runner-up in the MBL-P to the Wildcatz while also making the playoffs for the first time.
This year was undoubtedly the program’s best, so far.
“We made history,” Betancourt said. “We left as champions. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Garcia said he hopes the final game of the season against Aptos inspires next year’s team, which will compete in the tougher Gabilan division, to get better.
“Everyone was like, ‘P.V.? They’re going to get taken out quick.’ But that wasn’t the case,” Garcia said. “We played really tough and almost beat them. That was Aptos. We didn’t win but we played great. Probably our best game ever. I hope that really got something going here at P.V.”
