Oak Ridge High’s varsity boys’ volleyball team defeated the Oakmont Vikings in four games 25-8, 25-16, 22-25, 25-14 in the second round California Sac-Joaquin Section Playoffs on Tuesday night.

From the onset the Trojans (30-6 overall) dominated around the net with Jonathan Tuttle, Sean Bassemier and Storm Van Soldt leading the way. After going down two games to none Oakmont had a resurgence, taking the third game 25-22, despite being down most of the game.

Unfortunately for the Vikings (9-12 overall) Tuttle had five kills, two blocks and two aces, including the match’s final point, as Oak Ridge finished off Oakmont, 25-14.

“Putting the ball down really helped us out,” said Tuttle. “Keeping everybody loud and maintaining that chemistry was big. They also left the line open a lot so I used that to my advantage. Coming in I thought this could be a sleeper team, but we did much better coming back in the fourth game.”

Tuttle brought a quickness in his kills that Oakmont hasn’t seen all season. Outside hitting came from all sides, including Bassemier, who time and time again hurt Oakmont with cross -court kills and Van Soldt building a brick wall at the net.

“These are the quickest hitters we’ve come up against all season and look at who we regularly play, Granite Bay and Rocklin,” said Granite Bay coach Levalasi Key. “Their swings are phenomenally fast. We have not seen that kind of swing at all so it’s very hard to adjust as a blocker to that. We were finally starting to get it towards the end.”

The first two games were obviously a shocker for the Vikings, as they only scored eight points in the first and managed just double that in the second. In the first game the Trojans had 12 team kills matched only in the fourth with another ten.

Tuttle played his part in those hope-crushing blocks and kills in the first and last games. Trojan coach Tom Van Der Wende went away from his starters in the third game, knowing he could bank on their skill if there was a fourth.

“The subs kind of got a little quieter and things just didn’t gel as much,” Van Der Wende said. “ The whole team contributed and did a great job, though.”

Big contributions came from Connor Dunham on sets, as he put the ball back to his choice of outside hitters.

James Crisp led the Vikings with 18 assists plus a block and a dig.

Other Viking notables were senior middle hitter Nate Grady and sophomore JV call-up Ryan Sui each with 10 digs. Alex Ford led Oakmont with eight kills. Tim Cook also had five kills.

Versatile senior middle hitter Dylan Baldwin contributed four blocks and three assists in his attempt to disrupt the Trojans and their onslaught of kills.

Oakmont finishes their season graduating just three seniors in Baldwin, Grady and Ford. Levalasi has seven sophomores ready for next season and expects tryouts to be very competitive.

“It’s going to be tough. I have JV players coming up who play club and have the experience, but I just don’t have seven spots,” said Levalasi. “It’s going to be a totally different team next year.”

The Trojans have their eyes on Thursday, as they welcome the Del Oro Golden Eagles (8-3 league, 23-7 overall). Back in March the two teams met in an exhibition game amidst league play that favored Oak Ridge, 3-1.

“They’re a huge team,” said Van Der Wende of Del Oro. “Last time we played them was months ago. We had to work hard to beat those guys because they’re loaded with height and everything else. So it should be a good match Thursday night.”

Round three of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs features Oak Ridge, the No. 1 seed out of the Sierra Valley League, and Del Oro, the No. 2 seed from the Sierra Foothill League. Thursday’s match begins at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge gymnasium.