Boys’ Volleyball: Captain Augie leads CdM
Augie Miller is one of those players Corona del Mar High Coach Steve Conti can always count on, no matter the situation. Whether the Sea Kings are playing an upper-echelon boys’ volleyball team, an average team or one of the worst, Miller is going to compete every time.
Miller shows up and he has since his sophomore season two years ago, when late in the season he began starting ahead of a senior. Since then, Miller has held down one of the middle blocker positions and now he’s a captain as a senior.
Conti is still hopeful the rest of the Sea Kings can follow Miller’s approach. Conti said they’re going to have to in order to make a legitimate run at a CIF Southern Section Division 1 title.
“There’s an element that’s missing in our game that can get this team to be the best that they can be, and we’re not there,” Conti said. “We’re trying to figure that out, so we can shore that up. It’s certainly not too late. I think one of the things is this team needs to learn how to be a little bit more mentality tough, and not just play well when things are going your way and when you have a lead. We need to learn how to play well from behind, because in some of those games that we’re behind in, we’re capable of making runs. This team has the talent to do that.”
Miller, a Pepperdine signee, is one of a handful of players at CdM who have futures at NCAA Division I programs. Nevertheless, with four matches left in the regular season, he knows CdM (20-6, 7-0 in Pacific Coast League) has a short window to turn it up a couple of notches on the court.
The CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs begin on May 12, and the two programs expected to advance to the finale don’t include CdM. The Sea Kings have gone up against the two top-ranked teams in the division and have lost each time. No. 1 Huntington Beach swept CdM in the finals of the Orange County Championships on March 23, and No. 2 Los Angeles Loyola swept CdM in the finals of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on April 18.
Miller, who’s 6-foot-4, performed at his best during both tournaments, earning all-tournament honors each time. The most recent two-day tournament saw him record a staggering .705 hitting percentage (43 of 61). In fourth matches, he totaled 48 kills, three blocks and five block assists.
In the opener against Santa Ynez, ranked No. 2 in Division 4, Miller hit 1.000 and finished with a dozen kills. He produced double-digit kills in each of the first three matches, the last two in wins against Santa Barbara and Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.
The semifinal against Mira Costa, ranked No. 3 at the time in Division 1, one spot ahead of CdM, was a big one. Miller had 16 kills and the result helped the Sea Kings take Mira Costa’s spot in the poll, while Mira Costa dropped to No. 5. Keeping the No. 3 spot is critical come postseason. No team wants to face two-time defending section champion Huntington Beach (28-0 overall), which has won a section-record 92 straight matches, until the championship.
No team has shown it can end the Oilers’ run, not even Loyola (22-1), which suffered its only setback this year to Huntington Beach at the Best of the West final in San Diego. The Cubs have also lost to Huntington Beach in the past two section finals.
Loyola and CdM appear headed for another semifinal showdown for the right to play the Oilers. If it plays out that way, Loyola earning the No. 2 seed and CdM the No. 3, and both reaching the semifinals, Miller said the Sea Kings would have to show more fight and emotion for any chance to beat Loyola. The Sea Kings lost for the second time this season to Loyola during a nonleague match on the road Wednesday.
“I wish I had an answer for you. I don’t know why,” Conti said, when asked why CdM doesn’t always play with the kind of high emotion it displayed against Mira Costa. “The positive reinforcement is when you play like that, you beat Mira Costa, 25-16, 25-16, [in the first two sets], that should reinforce that. To me, it’s like a kid who gets candy for the first time, that tastes good, or playing that way, and competing that way, and winning that way feels good, so why wouldn’t you want to keep doing it? You want that candy again. I’d be lying to say I wasn’t a little perplexed from it. But all of the things are fixable issues. That’s the one shining thing. The talent in that gym is here. But the effort isn’t always there. Maybe the ability to want to win for the guy to your left and right, win for your teammates needs to be better, too.
“[Huntington Beach and Loyola] just don’t have the talent, but they are relentless in the way that they compete. That’s one thing I tried to say when I watched Loyola play [against us] in the Santa Barbara tournament. [The Cubs are] up 2-0 [in sets], they’re up, 11-3, in [the third set], and they’re fighting like it’s like the CIF finals, like it’s the last point. Sometimes I think we look at the name on the jersey before we determine how hard we’re going to compete. But at the same time, why are we not competing against everybody, and why are we not competing at our best when we’re playing Loyola? That name is pretty up there in high school volleyball lore, not to mention you lost to them in the finals of a tournament, and that’s the team that knocked you out [in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last year]. We got a lot of guys coming back. We’ve had players here who would run through a brick wall to get over that hurdle.”
Miller is one of those players who will do anything to win. Physically, he said the team isn’t 100%, and it’s understandable.
Four other key players, junior setter Matt Ctvrtlik, senior outside hitter Ryan Moss, senior opposite Kevin Fults and junior outside hitter Sam Kobrine, joined the team a month into the season. The foursome came off a taxing boys’ basketball season in which CdM reached the quarterfinals of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs.
“I think a little bit,” said Miller, when asked if the long basketball season has affected the volleyball team. “I think physically we’re just as talented as [Huntington Beach and Loyola] are. I think that we’re just trying to gain a little more chemistry … and just trying to like learn how to play a little bit more together and play more as a team.
“Some of the team is just like a little too laid back, but I think we’re all out there working hard. I think that sometimes we just … need to takes games a little bit more seriously.”
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Augie Miller
Born: Oct. 29, 1996
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 160 pounds
Year: Senior
Coach: Steve Conti
Favorite food: Chipotle burrito
Favorite movie: “The Avengers”
Favorite athletic moment: Winning the CIF Southern California Regional Division II title last year.
Week in review: Miller finished with 48 kills and a .705 hitting percentage, leading the Sea Kings to a runner-up finish at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.