A comeback for the ages. Fueled by a performance for the ages.
On May 10 in the Central Coast Section Division I boys volleyball playoffs, Christopher put together likely the most astounding rally from a near-certain loss to a crucial victory in school history. At Serra High in San Mateo, the West Catholic Athletic League’s Padres led two sets to one and had the fourth and clinching set in hand.
Until they didn’t.
Christopher came from far behind to shock Serra in the fourth set and again in the fifth set to win 14-25, 20-25, 25-19, 33-31, 15-13.
Most amazing was the scope of the comeback in the fourth set and the rally in the fifth set. Christopher trailed 23-14 in the fourth set when the first earthquake hit. Christopher surged with a 10-1 charge, fighting off seven match points. Serra resisted six set points before Christopher finally prevailed 33-31.
In the fifth set, Serra regrouped and led 10-6. Then, an aftershock, as Christopher charged back again. The Cougars closed with a 9-3 run for the victory.
“It was a rough start, but it was a great comeback,” Christopher libero Nolan Smith said. “Everyone just played more aggressive. We had nothing to lose.”
Equally amazing—or perhaps even more incredible—was the performance of Christopher’s Diego Rodriguez, as he totaled a phenomenal 53 kills on the day. That’s not a typo. Volleyball coaches and referees were consulted and all said great kill totals rarely go past the 30s.
High school records are not kept in California or around the country but the NCAA keeps them. In the college ranks, the kill record from 2001 to the present is 40 by Arvis Greene Jr. of Cal State Northridge against UC Irvine on April 6, 2018.
The 6-foot-5 Rodriguez, a junior who has committed to Long Beach State University, delivered 17 in the fourth set alone and then nine more in the fifth. And that included nearly all of the crucial points. All this came in a playoff game on the road against a West Catholic Athletic League opponent.
“We started off tough but we got way more drive and became much more scrappy,” Rodriguez said. “We have a lot of seniors and we put in extra effort for them. We stayed locked in and focused.”
Serra dominated the first set. The Cougars fought back in the second but at 18-18, the Padres pulled away with a 7-2 closing run. In the third set, Christopher was the one to take over late. It was 18-18 but this time, the Cougars finished it off with a 7-1 charge.
“We started to find our identity,”
Christopher coach Lee Guerrero said. “Our serve receive got much better. Because of that, we could run our offense better.”
Coach Guerrero also made some strategic changes. He matched up Noah Guerrero on Serra’s 6-foot-10 Caeden Jones. He also moved Rodriguez around to make it harder for Serra to know where he was and get a big block in front of him.
Yet set four got out of hand. Serra appeared to be in full control with a 23-14 lead. Christopher needed to score 10 points before Serra got two more. They did. The Serra shocker was a 10-1 Cougar run to tie the game at 24-24. Then the sides fought back and forth until Christopher won 33-31.
In the fifth, the story continued. Christopher was strong on defense and running the offense through Rodriguez, who could not be stopped. Jones and James Bourdet led the Padres.
Serra led the final set 10-6 and 12-10 but the Cougars had one more big rally in them. Fittingly, at 13-13, it was Rodriguez with the final two kills, a deep cross, followed by a tight cross. The miraculous comeback was complete.
“We finally found it,” coach Guerrero said. “We wanted to grind it out and finish each point. Leave it all out there. The boys got locked in. The momentum shifted and they started believing in themselves.”
The victory moved Christopher forward into the quarterfinals the next night. The No. 10 seeded Cougars again travelled north. They fell against the No. 2 seed, Carlmont of Belmont, as the Scots won 25-17, 25-21, 25-19.
That ended Christopher’s superb season. The Cougars were 27-5 overall, 8-4 in the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Mt. Hamilton Division. That placed them third, trailing league champ Branham and second-place Leigh.
The record was even more impressive given that Christopher had just moved up a level. In 2025, CHS was 22-10 overall, 9-3 in the second-level Santa Teresa Division. Even with the tougher competition, this squad put together the best record in school history. And it came with one of the best come-from-behind rallies ever.
Unprecedented performance
Rodriguez produced kill totals of six, nine, 12, 17 and nine, respectively, in the five sets. He crushed balls through double and triple blocks. He hit the line, he hit deep cross and he hit tight cross.
He went over the block. He drilled balls into seams. He had a few tips and also would tool the block. Many kills came from the back row, where he would look for open angles to hit through.
But most fantastic was when he delivered those kills—for nearly every key point in the match. When Christopher closed the fourth set from 25-26 to 33-31, Rodriguez had seven kills in the Cougars’ eight points, the other coming on a Serra error.
At 30-30, as Christopher finished with a 3-1 charge to get the needed two-point difference, all three points were Rodriguez kills.
In the fifth set, Christopher erased a 10-6 deficit with a 9-3 burst. Of the nine points by the Cougars, Rodriguez ripped six kills. The other points came on a service ace by Noah Guerrero and two Serra errors.
“We moved Diego around,” Christopher coach Lee Guerrero said. “We put him on the right side to help with the block. He got some big kills from that side too. It was difficult for them to defend him. We just kept grinding and I told them to go out swinging and leave it all out there.”
More than just difficult to defend. Unstoppable. Fifty-three.
