Huntington Beach boys’ volleyball keeps CIF finals hopes alive with win at Newport Harbor
Following its five-set defeat to top-seeded Los Angeles Loyola to begin pool play, Huntington Beach knew it wasn’t dead in the water.
The Oilers needed a result to shake things up and stay alive in the hunt to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball final.
Huntington Beach beat host Newport Harbor 29-27, 25-27, 25-20, 25-19 on Tuesday evening, leaving three teams with a chance to advance out of Pool A later this week.
“Usually, with six days off in between matches, I’m going to take the day off after a five-set loss,” Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti said. “We came right back in the gym and got back to work because I didn’t want that to linger for any longer than it had to. … We said it was time to move on and concentrate on Newport because we knew that there’s still a chance.”
The round robin will be completed on Saturday. Fourth-seeded Newport Harbor (27-7) will visit Loyola (28-1) in the teams’ first meeting since the Cubs swept the back-to-back section champions for the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I crown.
Fifth-seeded Huntington Beach (27-6) will play host to No. 8 Mater Dei (20-12), which has yet to win a set in the playoffs.
Loyola controls its own destiny, but should it fall to Newport Harbor, either the Sailors or the Oilers could sneak through the back door. A two-team tie would be broken by the head-to-head result. A three-team tie would first come down to sets winning percentage, followed by a seed points system, in which the team with the lowest sum of the seeds it beat would advance.
Senior setter Jake Pazanti said the Oilers understand the need to limit the sets surrendered after their playoff-opening loss to the Cubs. He added that he hopes that the “volleyball gods let Newport beat Loyola” to give them a chance at going to the CIF final.
No manner of superstition is spared in the postseason, and the Oilers are sporting buzz cuts for their playoff run.
“When we were sophomores, we did mullets for CIF, and that didn’t give us the best luck,” Pazanti added. “We decided to change up the luck a little bit. We’ve been so close the past three years.”
Pazanti had 44 assists to go with five kills and 2½ total blocks to lead Huntington Beach. Senior opposite Aidan Dubno paced the Oilers with 16 kills and three blocks. The third of three seniors on the roster just returned from a meniscus injury in the regular season finale, that being outside hitter Bennet Tchaikovsky.
“I know it might not always look pretty because I’m not jumping as high as before my meniscus tear, but I’ve tried my hardest and put my body out on the line just to get a shot at coming back,” said Tchaikovsky, who had five kills and 1½ total blocks. “Honestly, it’s just a dream come true to come to Newport and beat them in four.”
Freshman middle blocker Logan Hutnick provided 11 kills and five block assists. Junior middle blocker Nick Ganier had 10 kills and three block assists, and sophomore outside hitter Colin Choi contributed nine kills.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking the first few games, trying to get used to this high-intensity play,” said Hutnick, who has started every match as a freshman. “I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job getting used to it and being able to compete.”
Senior outside hitter Riggs Guy had a match-best 22 kills for Newport Harbor. Senior opposite Jack Von Der Ahe added 14 kills and 2½ blocks. Junior middle blocker Jack Berry supplied nine kills and three blocks, while senior middle blocker Charlie Herrington and sophomore outside hitter Henry Clemo each had six kills. Senior setter Grayson Springborn handed out 50 assists to go with two blocks.
“I thought Huntington played a really good game tonight, I thought they played really clean,” Newport Harbor coach Andrew Mabry said. “They won a lot of long rallies, played really good on defense, but I thought our guys played really hard, too. I thought that was a really high-level defensive match.
“This is what makes it so hard and so special at the same time. When it goes your way, it’s really, really special, and really hard when it doesn’t go your way.”
Also in the CIF Southern Section boys’ volleyball playoffs:
Corona del Mar 3, Tesoro 1: Senior outside hitter Sterling Foley had 25 kills, as the third-seeded Sea Kings defeated the Titans 25-14, 21-25, 25-17, 25-15 on Tuesday in a Pool B match of the Division 1 playoffs at home.
Senior outside hitter Everett Welton and freshman middle blocker Daniel Booker each had nine kills. Sophomore opposite Brady Gant added seven kills, sophomore libero Drake Foley had two service aces, and senior setter Ryan Gant supplied three blocks in front-row defense.
Corona del Mar (21-4) plays at No. 2 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (34-3) on Saturday. The winner will advance to the Division 1 final on May 11 at Cerritos College.
Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 3, Edison 1: The visiting Chargers fell to the Mustangs 25-15, 26-28, 25-17, 25-19 on Tuesday in a Pool B match of the Division 1 playoffs.
Edison (16-14) will close out the round robin at Tesoro (17-9) on Saturday.
Costa Mesa 3, Palmdale Knight 2: Junior Dimitri Downs had 21 kills to lead the host Mustangs to an upset of the third-seeded Hawks 27-25, 20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-6 on Tuesday in the second round of the Division 6 playoffs.
Juniors Kurt Mateo and John Luong each had a dozen kills, and senior Justin Foreman finished with 10 kills for Costa Mesa. Senior Chris Rivera had six kills and 26 digs. Junior Phi An Vo added 15 digs.
Costa Mesa (15-9) will play host to Pomona Ganesha (28-4) in a quarterfinal match on Thursday.
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