Paloma Volleyball Team Tops Heritage, Improves to 19-1

The Paloma Valley High School boys volleyball team on Tuesday continued its quest for a perfect season in Sunbelt League play, defeating Heritage High, 3-0. The Wildcats are now 10-0 in the Sunbelt League and 19-1 overall.

The Wildcats started the season on a tear, winning 13 matches in a row before losing a match in the St. John Bosco/Valley Christian Tournament on March 28. They now have won six straight since then.

"I’m pretty lucky, I guess you could say," said Paloma Valley head coach Katie Bradley. "I have a wide variety of players that play well, so we’re well-balanced, so that’s definitely our strength as a team.

"I just have a lot of depth. I have a huge bench, but I have a lot of people on the bench that are ready to come in and can dominate this league as well."

This success is not at all uncommon for Paloma Valley; the Wildcats had a perfect 12-0 league season in 2014. But this season’s overall record so far is surpassing last season’s of 19-8, showing the growth that the team has made.

"We work hard for it," said Bradley. "The games are a lot easier than the practices."

The Wildcats showed their usual dominant performance on Tuesday, defeating the Patriots 25-15, 25-17 and 25-11. Senior David Hamilton led the Wildcats with 15 kills, while junior Justin Fabricante led with 39 assists.

"We played well," said Bradley. "I think we got an opportunity to get a lot of people in, and so that’s good to see everyone contribute."

Hamilton leads the team with 222 kills and 104 digs so far this season. Fabricante leads with 593 assists and senior Thomas Stancyk leads the team with 45 total blocks.

Paloma Valley will take on the Titans of Tahquitz High School on the road Thursday in their next league match.

"It’s harder to see your flaws when you’re constantly winning, so we have to be really critical of ourselves in every mistake that we make," said Bradley. "It’s really paying attention to our side of the court and eliminating the errors."

Heritage falls to 3-7 in league play and will take on Hemet High School in a home match on Thursday.