Sage Hill denied in quarters

NEWPORT COAST — On the brink of elimination, the Sage Hill School bench stood watching the ball in the air as Coach Dan Thomassen yelled out to his players on the court that the serve was going out.

What went out was Sage Hill Friday night, out of the boys’ volleyball playoffs.

Right in front of the bench, for every Sage Hill player and coach to see, Chadwick’s Reid Maetani dropped in a service ace near the line.

In the decisive fifth game, this one wasn’t close to heading out. Maetani delivered on match-point, getting sweet revenge at Sage Hill.

In another five-game thriller between the two schools, Chadwick came out on top, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16, 21-25, 15-13, in the CIF Southern Section Division V quarterfinals.

“It’s just a shame for them to lose on kind of a goofy ace like that,” said Chadwick Coach Michael Cass of the No. 3-seeded Lightning. “But at the same time I’m certainly not complaining.”

Cass has no reason to because he’s guided Chadwick (14-3), ranked No. 7 in the Division V regular-season coaches’ poll, to its first semifinal appearance in school history.

After twice reaching the quarterfinals during his eight years, the school from Palos Verdes Peninsula finally broke through. And to Cass there’s no better team to do it against than No. 3 Sage Hill (20-10).

This one ended in epic fashion, just as the three previous matches between the two teams in the last two seasons. This has become a rivalry and this one meant a lot to Chadwick’s Max McFarland.

The junior remembered how last season ended, Sage Hill ousting the visiting Dolphins, 25-21, 27-29, 20-25, 25-18, 15-12, in the quarterfinals.

This time McFarland came out and continually skied, pounding out a season-high 28 kills. He looked unstoppable. So did his teammate, senior middle blocker Michael Kohl (18 kills).

Sage Hill, the Academy League champion, tried to offset Chadwick’s one-two punch with outside hitters Bayle Smith and Joey Booth. Each led the Lightning with 22 kills. And it was both of them forcing a fifth game after Chadwick, the Prep League champ, ran away with the previous two games.

In Game 4, Sage Hill and Chadwick were tied at 19-19. Then Smith, a junior, and Booth, a sophomore, took turns hammering shots.

Smith started it off with a kill, followed by three straight from the left side by Booth. Smith recorded the clincher, right through the heart and soul of Chadwick’s defense, the middle.

Back and forth the action continued in Game 5. Eight ties, no team going ahead by more than two points. But Sage Hill hurt itself after going ahead, 13-12. The defense allowed one through and then a player was called for a hitting violation, giving Chadwick a 14-13 lead.

Thomassen called a timeout. Soon Maetani ended Sage Hill’s hope of returning to the semifinals for the second straight year.

Cass said Maetani knows every time he jumps serves whether it’s going in or out before he even hits the ball. Maetani never knew until he saw Sage Hill’s coaches and players stand motionless.

“I think we all did,” said Thomassen of his bench players screaming that the ball was heading out. “It was pretty far in, a really nice floater that dropped at the end.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.