STEVENSON RANCH — West Ranch boys volleyball player Noah Douphner separates this season into two parts: the Old West Ranch and the New West Ranch.
The new, improved version of the Wildcats showed what it was capable of when it beat Paraclete, 25-13, 19-25, 28-26, 25-23, in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals Wednesday evening.
West Ranch (23-11) advances to the semifinals Saturday and will host Murrieta Mesa, which beat Harvard-Westlake in five sets Wednesday, at 6 p.m.
“As the season progressed, more and more guys showed improvement things started to click a bit better,” Douphner said. “Coming into playoffs, we just hit an uptick and we just keep going up.”
The 6-foot-5 junior outside hitter, who hit .318 against Paraclete (26-7-2) with 20 kills, has led the team since the beginning of the season and even reached 1,000 career kills in a wild-card playoff match against Tustin. But as time went on, his teammates began to step up to create a more balanced team that is holding its own in the playoffs.
“We go as Noah goes, everyone knows that,” West Ranch head coach Brandon Johnson said. “Early in the year, I think the boys were content with letting Noah be the superstar. I think once they realized that everybody had to chip in…that’s when we made a change in the season.”
Outside hitter Logan Sanchez hit .333 and had 11 kills in the match. Lucas Reuter added six kills.
West Ranch has turned a third-place finish in the Foothill League into a trip to the CIF-SS semifinals. The Wildcats showed grit against Paraclete by bouncing back from a second-set loss to make a comeback win in the third set to gain a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The Spirits gained a 15-7 lead on a kill by David Buckley, who recorded 20 kills in the match. West Ranch chipped away, pulling within just three points and eventually closed the gap to tie the set at 24-all when a Paraclete serve went short.
Douphner’s kill set up a match point situation and the Wildcats finished off the set after a 45-second rally. Logan Sanchez made a critical dive at the back line to keep the play alive.
“There’s a point in the match where you’re like, oh, we’ve gotta start focusing on the next set in your mind, and it’s almost like you don’t want that to happen. You want to keep pursuing and you want to keep fighting in that set.”
Nathan Gates had nine digs in the match and Jacob Linares had seven kills. Devon Marshall added six kills and James Cunningham had five kills.
Paraclete, which reached the CIF-SS Division 5 championship match last season, was led by a senior-heavy group and junior setter Brett Novak, who had 36 assists and is starting to earn Division I college offers.
The Spirits have come far in a short amount of time. They won only five games in in 2022, but improved to finish second in the Del Rey League and reach a CIF-SS championship game in 2023. This season, they won a Del Rey League title and moved up a playoff division.
“I’m really proud of the growth and how much they bought in and loved the game of volleyball,” first-year Paraclete head coach Joey Medina said. “All of them started to play club after that first year and you see them getting better. It’s awesome to see how much they love the game.”
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