Boys’ Volleyball: HB tops CdM to win OC Championships
HUNTINGTON BEACH — The high school boys’ volleyball team Corona del Mar faced on Monday hadn’t lost in two years. You have to go all the way back to the final of the Orange County Championships to find out when was the last time an opponent downed Huntington Beach.
Since their last setback, the Oilers have made it back twice to the finale of that same three-day tournament. Each time they have met the Sea Kings.
For the second straight year, the result was eerily similar. Huntington Beach swept CdM, 25-21, 25-19, to defend its Division 1 crown in a best-of-three format at Edison High.
While CdM has dropped its last three contests to the Oilers since last season, Sea Kings Coach Steve Conti noticed a different team against Huntington Beach. In the first set, the Sea Kings played with poise and hung with Huntington Beach (19-0), which has won a CIF Southern Section record 83 straight matches.
“I was happy with the way that we carried ourselves on the court,” Conti said. “We’ve had some battles with these guys. We just looked confident, where I think other teams may look a bit panicked against this team. We played these guys last year in the [OC Championships] finals, similar result, but I have a totally different outlook.
“I think [my players] definitely looked a little bit more intimidated [in last year’s [championship match]. That’s where our team has kind of really matured. I’ve been with a big chunk of this group for three years now, and they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. They’re being seniors, or someone like Matt [Ctvrtlik], who’s been up here since his freshman year is just very confident and sure of himself. All the players are sure of themselves and I think there’s a lot of trust amongst the team, trust in one another.”
The Sea Kings (10-4) haven’t had much time together on the court, only two practices and four days of matches, since the return of Ctvrtlik, Ryan Moss, Sam Kobrine and Kevin Fults to the lineup. The four missed the first month of the season because of a long boys’ basketball season resulting in a CIF Southern Section Division 3A runner-up finish and a quarterfinals appearance in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs.
Despite the short time together, CdM took a 4-1 lead in the opening set, making some wonder if the Sea Kings were going to stop the Oilers’ winning streak at 82 matches. Right away, Ctvrtlik and Will Hunter teamed up to turn away arguably the top high school player in the country in TJ DeFalco. Hunter recorded one of his three kills, and the Oilers struck the ball wide and into the net.
The Oilers, the two-time CIF Southern Section Division 1 champions, are more than DeFalco, a senior outside hitter bound for Long Beach State. Setter Josh Tuaniga, the OC Championships MVP, proved it, finding other options to get Huntington Beach back in the first set. The Long Beach State-bound senior, who finished with 32 assists, set up opposite Ben Vaught’s kill, and a net violation on CdM evened things up at 5-5.
The sides were knotted four times in the first set, but DeFalco and Vaught broke the last two ties with kills. Vaught wound up with five of eight kills in Game 1, and DeFalco had four of his 13 kills. The Oilers forced CdM to call a timeout after taking a 17-15 lead on Sean Morrissey’s block on Ctvrtlik.
“I don’t think we played that great in the first set,” Huntington Beach Coach Craig Pazanti said. “I looked up and we were still ahead by a couple of points.”
Out of the timeout, Kobrine cut Huntington Beach’s lead to one with one of his five kills in the first set. Then the rest of the Oilers got involved. Shane Holdaway produced a couple of kills, Morrissey stuffed another shot, and Alex Wolf and Vaught combined for a block. Vaught recorded two more kills, one to put Huntington Beach at set point, 24-19, and the next to seal the set at 25-21.
The Sea Kings fell short of becoming the second team this season to take a set from Huntington Beach. The Oilers lost Game 2 to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa at the Best of the West tournament in San Diego, before winning the best-of-three semifinal, 25-17, 20-25, 15-10.
“I think early in the game [the three-point deficit] might be the biggest deficit we’ve had [this season],” said Pazanti, before being asked if he was worried with the slow start. “I’m always worried. For me, I like the 25-12 games [we win].
“I mean [the Sea Kings] do a good job. I think that there [are] a lot of good teams [that can challenge us]. Like I said, [Mira] Costa, [Los Angeles] Loyola, Newbury Park, [CdM], Westlake. I think if we’re playing well, I like our chances against whoever we play.”
The Sea Kings, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, cannot see No. 1 Huntington Beach again until the playoffs. By then, Conti believes his team will be more prepared if the two schools meet.
Four of his top players will surely be in top volleyball form. The four produced against the Oilers. Ctvrtlik, a junior setter, totaled 20 assists, four digs and two block assists, Moss, the USC-bound senior outside hitter, had seven kills, three digs and a service ace, Kobrine, a junior outside hitter, led CdM with eight kills, and Fults, a UC Santa Barbara-bound senior opposite, finished with three kills with no errors.
“We got to get in the gym and get better,” said Conti, whose team opens Pacific Coast League play at Northwood on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. “Our serve receive looked really good at times, and [the Oilers are] a tough serving team. And at times, it needs to be a little bit better, but you get better at serve receive passing by spending time practicing on it. There’s an upside with us, considering we’re just kind of putting our team together.
“I think those guys are still a little bit beat up from basketball. The plan is to get through the next two weeks and get to [our] spring break [from April 6-10]. That’s when I think those basketball players will really come back, kind of [rejuvenated], and a little bit more refreshed. I think they’re getting over the emotional side of it, you know, the length of the season, but there’s still the physical aspect. I saw how hard all those guys played in basketball. That is taxing on the body.”