Poor ball control leads to Oilers’ loss

The Huntington Beach Oilers could not turn the corner in two tight games that opened Tuesday’s CIF-Southern Section Division I second-round boys’ volleyball playoff match against Los Alamitos, and the visiting Oilers went on to suffer a 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 season-ending loss.

Oilers Coach Rocky Ciarelli said it was a combination of things that led to his team’s downfall.

“I’d say one of our biggest issues was ball control,” he said. “That kind of hurt us. Our passing was OK but not great. But Los Al deserves some credit for our inconsistent play. They have a really good team and had a lot to do with us not playing our best. We had our chances in those first two games.”

Junior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli had 14 kills and in their final match as Oilers, senior opposite Alex Tonjes and senior middle blocker Stipe Lasic each had five kills.

Huntington, co-champion of the Sea View League, finished the year 16-4. Los Alamitos — a former league rival of the Oilers and the third-place team from the Sunset League — advances to Friday’s quarterfinals and a match with Mater Dei.

In its first-round match against Crespi of Encino last Friday, Huntington swept the Celts, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19. Tony Ciarelli had 15 kills, Tonjes 11 kills and Dax Miller 31 assists.

Boys’ CIF-SS swimming and diving finals

Edison sophomore Tom Shields sprinted to a Division I championship in the 200-yard free, winning the event in 1:38.84. Huntington Beach junior Julian Bonse finished fourth in the consolation finals ( 1:44.60) and was 12th in the event, overall. Shields (49.68) also was second and Huntington Beach senior Greg White (51.94) ninth in the 100-butterfly. Bonse (4:36.30) was fifth and Marina junior Kevin Sellars (4:43.02) was 11th in the 500-free.

In other events: Sellars went 1:55.33 to earn fourth-place in the 200 individual medley where Edison sophomore Troy Edwards (2:02.76) finished 15th; Marina junior Brandon Montgomery (22.12) finished 13th in the 50-free; Edison’s Shields, sophomore Kenny Bray and juniors Chris Bernard and Richie Seaberry (1:28.51) placed seventh in the 200-free relay; Edison’s Shields, Seaberry, Bray and senior Beau Nicolette (3:13.94) finished 11th in the 400-free relay.

In the one-meter diving final, Edison junior Chris Salgado (467.60 points) was ninth, Marina’s Trevor Gardner (347.75) 13th, Edison senior Quinn Carrasco (130.80) 22nd and Marina’s Alex Patalano (106.50) was in 28th-place.

Girls’ CIF-SS swimming and diving finals

In Division I, Edison’s 400-free relay team of junior Yasi Jahanshahi, sophomores Monique Wilson and Kiersten Colesen and freshman Cindy Tran won the event’s title with a time of 3:33.34, knocking more than five seconds (3:38.91) off their prelims time. The Chargers’ 200-yard medley relay team of Tran, junior Jessie Knight, Jahanshahi and Colesen, swam to a second-place finish with a time of 1:49.22.

In other events: Tran (55.81) won an individual title in the 100-backstroke and placed third (56.05) in the 100-butterfly, Jahanshahi (56.58) was fifth in the 100-butterfly and fourth (4:59.02) in the 500-free and Colesen (25.01) was 13th in the 50-free.