Boys’ Volleyball: UCI-bound Friedman keys South win
After playing his final high school volleyball match, Grant Friedman didn’t really want to talk about his stellar performance.
It seemed as if every set that came to him he put away and led the South boys to the win in the 38th annual Dave Mohs Memorial Orange County High School All-Star match.
The Capistrano Valley senior, who is bound for UC Irvine, was sensational in the second set with six kills. The South finished with a 25-18, 25-23 win in a best-of-three match. The North, which featured Corona del Mar’s Ryan Moss, Kevin Fults, Augie Miller and Hagen Truninger and Newport Harbor’s Collin Schlesinger, won the “complimentary” third set, 16-14, Friday night at Newport Harbor.
Friedman was simply excited to play in the match that featured several long rallies.
“It was just really competitive and fun,” Friedman said. “We had a great setter [Brody Earnest of Aliso Niguel].”
Friedman and that setter shared MVP honors of the match that had few people in the stands.
The North featured one Huntington Beach player, Ben Vaught. Other HB stars like TJ DeFalco and Josh Tuaniga did not show because of their prom, event director Dan Glenn said.
Still there was plenty of talent on the court. Glenn, the Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball coach, was pleased with the big-time plays made during the match.
Friedman made several of them, as did San Clemente’s Dominic Brousard, putting away many sets in the middle.
“This was a great way to end high school,” Friedman said.
Friedman said he is excited to compete for UC Irvine, where he will join his brother, Phillip, who will be a redshirt junior.
That was a factor in Friedman’s decision to play for the Anteaters, but he said he also liked the coaches and the location, close to home.
“I had my heart set on UCI since Day One,” he said. “I mean, my brother goes there; I’ll play two years with him.”
Moss, the MVP of the Pacific Coast League, said he had fun closing out his high school career playing with his teammates one last time.
The USC-bound senior helped lead the Sea Kings to the CIF Southern California Regional Division II championship last week. It was a repeat for CdM.
He said the intensity was obviously lower this week, but there was still excitement because the Sea Kings played together.
Fults is bound for UC Santa Barbara, Miller is going to Pepperdine and Truninger to Orange Coast.
Sam Stafford, a CdM assistant who guided the north in place of CdM Coach Steve Conti, said he enjoyed the experience.
Twitter: @SteveVirgen