ANAHEIM — Two of the four sets in the CIF-SS Division 2 boys volleyball quarterfinal between San Marcos of Santa Barbara and Servite on Wednesday had to be decided in overtime.

Another set came right down to the wire.

The Friars came out on top in all three, defeating the No. 2 seed Royals 33-31,18-25, 31-29, 25-23 at Servite High.

Servite advances to face Trinity League rival Santa Margarita in the semifinals Saturday at Servite.

No. 3 seed Santa Margarita, which defeated the Friars (18-14-4) in both league matches this season, defeated Long Beach Wilson in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

“I think we’ve been talking a lot all year about what it takes to win and you’ve got to practice the skill of winning and stuff like that,” Servite coach Matthew Marrujo said after the victory. “And when you get a little opportunity to take advantage of it, good things happen.”

USC signee Eamon Rigdon led the Friars with 18 kills and teammate Cooper Truong had 13 kills.

Setter Joaquin Rigdon, Eamon’s brother, had 46 assists and two blocks and libero Ethan Bautista had 18 digs.

The Friars also had 10 blocks as a team.

“It was a great team win and I’m so happy for my teammates,” Eamon Rigdon said. “It took everybody to win that game.”

The score was tied numerous times in the first, third and fourth sets, with neither team able to build a lead of more than four points.

The score was tied 26 times in the first set, with six of those ties coming in overtime.

Servite led by one point with a chance to win the set five times in overtime but San Marcos (33-3) tied the score each time to extend the set.

San Marcos also led by a point, 28-27, with a chance to win the set, but the Royals served out of bounds to tie the score yet again.

Another serve out of bounds by the Royals gave the Friars a 32-31 lead and then Quinn Rosenkranz and Cooper Truong partnered on a block to give Servite the victory by the required two points.

The second set was close until the Royals went on 10-3 run to pull away down the stretch.

Servite maintained a slim lead through most of the third set before the Royals pulled ahead and led 24-23.

But then the Friars’ Diego Garcia served an ace to tie the score and send the set to overtime.

The score was tied four more times in overtime until a back-row kill from Eamon Rigdon followed by a hit out of bounds by the Royals clinched the set and gave the Friars a 2-1 lead.

The fourth set played out much like the first and third, but this time the Friars didn’t need overtime.

Another back row kill from Eamon Rigdon gave the Friars a 24-22 lead.

A hitting error by Servite made the score 24-23 but then a kill from Cooper Tuong clinched the set and the match for the Friars.

With the victory, Servite avenged its loss to San Marcos in the 2023 Division 2 quarterfinals.

We had a lot of respect for them,” Marrujo said. “We knew it was going to be a really hard match. I know what it feels like for them. We were there last year.”

The Friars last reached the semifinals in 2022. They defeated Thousand Oaks in three sets that season but then lost in the finals to Tesoro in five sets.

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