GAME TIME: Lightning stay hot, move on to CIF quarterfinals

BURBANK — The last time the Sage Hill School boys’ volleyball team was in the second round of the playoffs, the Lightning didn’t strike.

But they made sure they would in Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Division V second-round match at Providence of Burbank.

Bayle Smith and Joey Booth each recorded 14 kills to lead Sage Hill to a 25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 25-21 victory and a spot in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2004, when it made the semifinals.

The Lightning (15-7) will play host on Friday at 7 p.m. to Chadwick of Palos Verdes Peninsula, which beat Sage in the second round last year. Chadwick (17-4) moved on Tuesday after beating St. Bernard of Playa del Rey, 25-15, 25-27, 25-18, 25-15.

“We’re trying to get there again,” said Sage Hill first-year varsity coach Dan Thomassen, in a phone interview, adding that he was an assistant when the Lightning made history by reaching the semifinals. “We beat [Chadwick] earlier in the year, but we’re going to have another tough one.”

— David Carrillo Peñaloza