Valencia girls’ volleyball played with grit in its first five-set match of the playoffs.  The Vikings trailed 1-0 and 2-1 but refused to be put away as the team secured the five-set victory over the visiting Palm Desert Aztecs on Wednesday.  Valencia won the CIF Southern Section Division 5 match, 23-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 15-9, on the heels of more sensational serving and a balanced attack on offense against an Aztec defense that covered nearly every ball.  “They were the best team we’ve played so far,” said Vikings coach Kristin Dolan. “Defensively, they were outstanding, they got everything up, and it took multiple great swings in order for us to score. There were numerous times we set Makayla (Garcia) in the middle, and she crushed it, and then they dug it two or three times in the same rally. It was crazy.”  Three Vikings tallied six or more aces, including sophomore Sophia Lagman, who totaled seven. Libero Addison DeGard totaled 31 assists while she and junior setter Cayden Hobrecker each added six aces. Serving has been a strong suit for the Vikings (17-15) in the postseason but it hasn’t always been their ace.  “At the beginning of the season, our serving was pretty good, and then for a while we were a little inconsistent,” Hobrecker said. “I think recently at practice, we’ve been focusing a lot on hitting different areas and short serving, and it’s definitely worked really well for us during playoffs.”  Hobrecker was also the focal point in leading the balanced attack with 46 assists.  “I definitely trust a lot of different hitters,” Hobrecker said. “We kind of have a different dominant hitter every single game, which I think is something that works really well for us. Unlike any other team, we don’t really have just one standout hitter. Everyone is really consistent, and I really trust all of them.”  While the Vikings didn’t win set three, they carried momentum into the fourth game. Valencia trailed 9-1 early in the third set before later tying the score at 16-16. Valencia went down by five to close and, heading into the fourth set, Dolan broke down the match simply for her girls.  “We had a talk in the huddle about how you can’t win the match until you win one point,” Dolan said. “Then they started taking it point for point. It’s a big moment, you’re down 2-1 and that’s a lot of pressure. So we just tried to take it one point at a time, and when they did that we started playing better. Calls started going our way, we made a few better plays than we had at the beginning.”  Valencia turned on the jets from there and forced a fifth game. Garcia, Kayla Rust and Mackenzie Hancsicsak all racked five kills in the fourth set alone.   Garcia led the team with three blocks and 12 kills while Hancsicsak added 10 kills.   The Vikings weren’t perfect but played hard for every point.   Junior Annika Puno tallied up nine kills for Valencia, including the match-sealing swing that ripped through the Palm Desert block and hit the floor for the 15th point.  Puno also made a huge impact on defense with 17 digs while freshman Mai’ana Untalan racked up 21.  Valencia now hits the road for the CIF semifinals but the team won’t have to go too far. The Vikings will travel a few miles to face the Canyon Cowboys for the third time this season. Valencia swept Canyon twice in the regular season but won’t take the second-seeded Cowboys lightly in round three.  “We’re very excited to play Canyon,” Hobrecker said. “We don’t want to take anything for granted. We’re really looking forward to it, and we’re preparing a lot.”  Dolan feels both teams are entering the semifinals bout playing their best volleyball but neither have quite peaked.  “The Moorpark match is the best I’ve seen us play,” Dolan said. “Last night was great because Palm Desert was a very good team, and we won. So that is a huge confidence booster for all of us. And yeah, it is a confidence booster knowing we beat a team twice.”  Canyon hosts Valencia in the Division 5 semifinals on Saturday at 6 p.m.  The post Valencia volleyball advances to semis, beats Palm Desert in five  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.