The Mission Bay boys volleyball team wrapped up an impressive season finishing with a 17-9 mark, which is their second-best record in the last 25 years placing third in the league and making it to the second round of the CIF Division II playoffs.
The Bucs accomplished this feat despite only having six returning players from last year with seniors Jake Kepner, Aric Johnson, Alex Morch, Brooks Robinson, junior Zane Caufield, and sophomore Maxime Vergnet.
“Fortunately, we had a really good group of younger players come out for beach volleyball in the fall, and a large group of freshmen, sophomores, and a couple of juniors come out for indoor volleyball in the spring,” said head coach Nikki Caufield.
Mission Bay moved up to Division II this year, the highest division ranking in school history, after having a strong showing in Division III in 2021 where they also made it to the second round of the playoffs.
The team started off this season with three-straight victories versus La Jolla Country Day, Kearny, and Montgomery before dropping their first match against Madison on April 25. The Bucs bounced back with a dominating victory over Mira Mesa before dropping back-to-back matches to Morse and Elsinore.
Mission Bay then went on a four-game winning streak with victories over Del Lago Academy, Victory Christian Academy, El Capitan, and Granite Hills without losing a single set in any of those matches. Their winning streak came to an end on March 5 in a rematch with Morse after which the team was able to regroup by winning back-to-back games versus Kearny and Clairemont.
After falling to Patrick Henry on March 22, the Bucs won three straight, defeating Point Loma, Christian, and Hoover only losing one set during that span.
Mission Bay dropped the next two to Mira Mesa and Patrick Henry but recovered by winning the following three against the same teams they defeated in their most recent win streak ending the regular season with a loss at Mira Mesa.
“After moving up a division and also moving up a league, our goal was to make the playoffs,” Caufield added. “Our only losses this year were to teams that finished in the top five of their divisions and have done well in the playoffs. Our senior guys all really stepped up and helped the younger guys transition to varsity and we are really going to miss them next year.”
The Bucs defeated Escondido in dramatic fashion, 3-2, in their first-round playoff match after dropping the first set to the Cougars. Mission Bay would see their outstanding season come to an end in the second round at Santa Fe Christian, 3-0.
“With not a lot of returners this year after COVID we were excited to have our biggest group of young players ever come out for indoor volleyball,” said Caufield. “We had a group of sophomores and juniors that had never played before jump in with our experienced varsity core of players and really do well.”
Among the most noteworthy players, this season were senior middle blocker Jake “Boris” Kepner who ended up ranked 20th in the nation in kill percentage and second overall in the San Diego section with a .454 average. Junior setter and opposite hitter Zane Caufield was second on the team in kill percentage with a .382 average, third in aces, third in digs, and first in assists.
Senior setter Aric Johnson led the team in aces and was second in assists with senior outside hitter Brooks Robinson being second in overall kills, second in digs, and ranked 26th in the county in hitting percentage. Senior middle blocker Alex Morch ranked ninth in the county in hitting percentage while sophomore libero Declan Noriega led the team in passing and digs.
