Dylan Gallagher (40) of Mater Dei celebrates with teammates after defeating Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Mater Dei celebrates after defeating Peninsula to win the the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) The Mater Dei boys volleyball team, coaches and staff pose with the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship trophy after defeating Peninsula at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula attempts to block the shot by Dylan Gallagher (40) of Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Carter Zee (88) and Jaden Sathasivam (8) of Peninsula attempt to block Jack Jadon (6) of Mater Dei as he spikes the ball over the net in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Jeremiah Potasi (13) of Mater Dei attempts to block a shot by Drake Harris (12) of Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) A Mater Dei student, right, celebrates with Dylan Gallagher (40) after Mater Dei defeated Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Jack Jadon (6) of Mater Dei and assistant coach Michael Nguyen celebrate after defeating Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula spikes the ball past the defense of Bennett Smith (50) of Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula hits the ball past the defense of Jeremiah Potasi (13) of Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula and Jeremiah Potasi (13) of Mater Dei battle at the net in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship Game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula dives for the ball in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game against Mater Dei at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Ryan Lo (84) of Peninsula sets the ball during the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game against Mater Dei at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kyle Boger (50) of Peninsula spikes the ball into Dylan Gallagher (40) of Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Ryan Lo (84) of Peninsula celebrates after scoring against Mater Dei in the first game at the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Peninsula head coach Kevin Williams acknowledges the fan after receiving the trophy after being defeated by Mater Dei in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Mater Dei volleyball players, from left, Michael Galvin (5), Dylan Gallagher (40), and Jeremiah Potasi (13) hold up the championship trophy after defeating Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 17Dylan Gallagher (40) of Mater Dei celebrates with teammates after defeating Peninsula in the CIF-SS Division 2 Boys Volleyball Championship game at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Friday, May 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG) Expand
SANTA ANA — Mater Dei boys volleyball coach Jake Nuneviller tried to process the emotion of winning a CIF Southern Section championship as Queen’s “We are the Champions” blared in the background, but he was nearly at a loss for words.
The Monarchs dropped the first set before rebounding to take the next three to win their second volleyball title in program history by defeating Peninsula, 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19, in the CIF-SS Division 2 final Friday night at Mater Dei High.
“It’s rad, there’s almost a totality kind of feeling to it,” Nuneviller said. “All the hard work has paid off. Of course, we’d love to have a shot at some other teams but I’m really proud of the guys. They played hard and bounced back after playing really poorly in the first set.”
Mater Dei’s first championship since 2011 did not come without some adversity in the final. The Monarchs (27-12-2) committed 19 errors in the opening set as the Panthers (22-8) jumped out to take the first set 25-20.
t.co/8ddA7hQeKA pic.twitter.com/RglAGumq4I
— David Delgado (@DavidDelgado_OC) May 17, 2025
Peninsula coach Kevin Williams wanted his team to challenge the Monarchs from the very start.
“That was the plan,” Williams said. “We watched them a lot, so we know they haven’t done much (to change) their alignments, which is almost exactly the same since, you know, February. So we wanted to challenge them to see if they would do something different, see if they would go in a different direction. We wanted to put a little pressure on them and see how they would respond.”
Nuneviller said it seemed to him that his team was trying too hard at the start.
“I think it started out with them just wanting to make these big crowd-busting, crazy, ‘blow the roof off the joint’ swings and plays,” the coach said. “We took a lot of silly swings in bad situations, and credit to Peninsula too, they dug, so they extended rallies.”
Mater Dei was led by junior outside hitter Ben Smith, who had a match-high 19 kills and 12 digs, while sophomore outside Jeremiah Potasi added 15 kills. Dylan Gallagher tallied 10 kills and Jack Jadon finished with nine kills.
Junior setter Jake Newman dished out 47 assists and 12 digs.
“We have a pretty balanced offense, generally,” Nuneviller said. “Our middle Cameron (Massoudi) was a rock star tonight. Dylan’s always great, Ben’s great, Miah’s great, Jack’s great. We have a very, very balanced offense and Jake does a good job distributing the ball.”
Mater Dei ties it, wins the second set 25-17.@ocvarsity @breezepreps @MDBoysVolley pic.twitter.com/UyGzeLNX7L
— David Delgado (@DavidDelgado_OC) May 17, 2025
The Monarchs settled down and eventually took control of the match and Smith was one of the reasons why.
“I think Ben is the most underrated player that I’ve ever been associated with,” Nuneviller said. “He is so good and people don’t talk about him and I don’t know why. I think he’s hitting a .315 on the season and that number’s on 800-something attempts. It’s outrageous.”
“I don’t think that there’s an outside hitter that is more deserving of the spotlight that needs more of it, right?” Nuneviller continued. “He’s great, man, he’s been great all year long for us.”
Mater Dei’s Ben Smith had 19 kills and helped lead the Monarchs to a win over Peninsula in four sets in the CIF-SS Division 2 final Friday, May 16, 2025, at Mater Dei High School. (Photo by David Delgado)
Smith spoke with a sense of pride after the match.
“We worked hard all season,” Smith said. “We lost a few games that we shouldn’t have, but we battled back and had a good end of the season. We won a ring.”
“It means a lot to me, means a lot to the team, to everybody and the coaches — coach’s first ring,” Smith said, referring to Nuneviller becoming a CIF championship-winning coach.
Related Articles
Fryer: El Toro boys volleyball has come a long way since 1-23 season CIF-SS boys volleyball finals: Previews of the OC games Friday and Saturday Brea Olinda volleyball loses to San Gabriel Academy in 5-set thriller in CIF-SS finals CIF-SS boys volleyball finals: Preview of Brea Olinda’s Division 7 matchup Updated CIF-SS boys volleyball playoffs: Schedule for the CIF-SS finals
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Mater Dei boys volleyball tops Peninsula to win first CIF title since 2011 )
Also on site :