Matt’s Musings:

This Thanksgiving, the members of the Huntington Beach High girls’ volleyball team have much for which to be thankful.

For one, their season’s still going, weeks after most thought it would have ended.

The Oilers kept the good times rolling Tuesday in a first-round win at La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, upsetting LCC in the opening round of the CIF State Division I playoffs.

On turkey day, everything’s all gravy for the Oilers. Yet, for first-year head Coach Craig Pazanti, this might just be only the beginning.

At least, Huntington Beach High players certainly hope so. Even after the toughest loss of the season, a quick three-game sweep at the hands of Dos Pueblos in the CIF Southern Section Division I-A title match Saturday, they had plenty to say.

“He really believed in us and knew what we could do,” junior libero Savannah Clark said. “It was really his mission to get Huntington Beach back on the map. He really helped us do that. He’s prepared us really well for every match.”

Pazanti is certainly no stranger to Orange County volleyball. This is the man who was an assistant at Huntington Beach High under longtime former coach Rocky Ciarelli from 1991-96. The Oilers won three CIF titles in that span, two with the boys and one with the girls.

After a stint as an assistant coach at Baylor, Pazanti went to the CIF finals with Mater Dei’s girls’ teams for five straight years from 1999 to 2003. The Monarchs won the title the last three of those years. All the while, he’s been a club volleyball mainstay. He helped start Golden West Volleyball Club in 2000 and coaches for Surf City Volleyball Club.

Yet this background only tells part of the story this year for Pazanti. Huntington Beach High holds a special place for him.

Pazanti is an Oiler, class of 1989.

So when reporters ask him about his background after the Oilers upset Santa Barbara in the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals Nov. 17, he gives it, but that’s all it is, background. A new chapter is being written.

“You know what, this is all about this team right here,” Pazanti said. “Rocky Ciarelli was my coach and my mentor, and I’m just trying to do what he did when he was here. He was here for a long time, won a couple titles with the boys and one with the girls. I just want Huntington Beach to be at the top of the map, where it should be.”

This year’s CIF final appearance was the Oilers’ first since 1996, when they also won the state title. Huntington Beach has been an underdog throughout much of the playoffs, but look closer.

It’s a team with lots of talent, starting with senior Captain Kellie Turner, an outside hitter, and 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker Haleigh Hampton.

But Pazanti had to integrate Hampton after she transferred to Huntington Beach late in the summer, about the same time he lost Clark to a meniscus injury that cost her the whole regular season.

The Oilers were inconsistent, yet they won a share of the Sea View League title. Pazanti deserves a lot of the credit.

“His whole life is volleyball,” Clark said, probably exaggerating but it’s not clear just how much. “He stays up until like 2 a.m. in the morning, watching video.”

The late-night video watching has its benefits. Clark said that for every match the Oilers are “pretty much over-prepared.”

“But that’s how much he cares for us,” she said.

Hampton, who leads the team in kills and blocks this season, has a bright future ahead of her.

She has verbally committed to Long Beach State.

But at the high school level, she said she has been “so thankful” that Pazanti has been her coach.

“In the past, I thought I’ve had good coaches, but no one even compares to Craig,” Hampton said. “He cares so much. He’s an amazing coach; anyone who gets to play for him is truly lucky. I love the way he coaches I feel like he makes us better players, being around him. He makes me want to be a better player all the time because I want to one-up Craig. I want to beat him.”

Pazanti was the most pumped up of all in that semifinal win over Santa Barbara, before a packed home crowd.

And his players didn’t quit after losing the first two games against Dos Pueblos in quick fashion. They made the Chargers work for every point in Game 3 before finally succumbing, 25-18.

In the same way Tuesday night, they didn’t fret after dropping the first game to La Costa Canyon or going down, two games to one. They stormed back and led the entire way in Game 5.

“That’s what we’ve been about all year long,” Pazanti said.

Yet, despite the intensity, he can keep his sense of humor.

“You know, at 1-0, we actually were ahead for the first time in Game 3,” he said after the Dos Pueblos match, smiling. “That was just an accomplishment in itself. I laugh, and obviously I’m as disappointed as I can possibly be, but what else can you do about that?”

With play still ongoing, it may be too early to mention next year. But the Oilers will bring back five of their seven starters, including Clark, junior middle blocker Hanna Good, sophomore setter Taylor Packer, junior outside Andrea Streips and sophomore opposite Aly Torline. It’s safe to say that Pazanti will look to get as much out of them next year as possible, too.

“He brought the fire back in us and made us believe in ourselves,” Streips said.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].