Eagles own Mesa
The rivalry between Estancia and Costa Mesa in high school girls’ volleyball tends to be one-sided.
Either the Eagles sweep the series in league, or the Mustangs do. It has been that way for as long as many of the athletes on both sides have been alive.
Costa Mesa tried to change that on its home court on Thursday. Having lost the first Orange Coast League meeting at Estancia in three sets earlier this month, the Mustangs went the distance with their archrivals the second time around.
The hosts erased a six-point deficit in the fifth set and took a 13-12 lead, but the Eagles came back. Estancia scored the final three points to claim the Battle for the Bell outright with a 25-20, 23-25, 18-25, 25-10, 15-13 win.
Estancia Coach Nick Singleton could breathe a sigh of relief when it ended. The result assured the Eagles swept the series with Costa Mesa for the 10th time in the last 11 years. What matters is they also stayed in a second-place tie in league with Calvary Chapel at 5-2.
The Eagles couldn’t afford to lose for the second time this week, not after falling at Calvary Chapel on Tuesday. Calvary Chapel holds the head-to-head edge against Estancia because it beat Estancia in fewer sets.
Only two programs in league have played Estancia in a five-set match, Calvary Chapel on Oct. 1 and now Costa Mesa. Singleton said he didn’t expect to go five sets with the Mustangs.
“I knew Mesa was capable,” Singleton said, “but last time we played [the Mustangs on Oct. 6], they really didn’t show up, so we weren’t really [sure] what to expect.”
The Mustangs (2-5 in league) challenged Estancia after the Eagles won the opening set. They went on to take the next two sets, thanks to outside hitter Isabella Maniaci recording six kills in Game 2 and eight kills in Game 3.
Estancia couldn’t stop Maniaci, who recorded a match-high 20 kills. What did was Maniaci’s health down the stretch.
“She’s got a heart condition, so in set four I could see that she was starting to slow down, so I had to monitor her,” Costa Mesa Coach Todd Hanson said. “I kept asking her, ‘Are you OK?’ She assured me that she was and I watched her very closely, but unfortunately at the very end of the fifth set, [when it was] tied at 13-13, she had to come out because she was having a heart problem.”
Costa Mesa never quit, even when it fell behind, 12-6, in Game 5. Olivia Toohey’s ninth kill seemed to give Estancia all the momentum in the final set in which she produced four kills.
But the Mustangs roared back on the strong serving by Kintak Keju. She took the Eagles out of their offense and the Mustangs went on a 7-0 run, taking a 13-12 lead on Felicia Crenshaw’s kill.
Samantha Haynes responded for Estancia, tying things up with a kill. A wide shot by Costa Mesa gave the Eagles match point, and Haynes thwarted the Mustangs’ comeback attempt with her eighth kill.
Toohey and Finley Garnett led the way for Estancia, which dropped last year’s two-match series with the Mustangs for the first time since 2004. The setters finished with 19 assists and three service aces apiece. Finley also chipped in six kills.
Three league matches remain for Estancia. The next is a home date with perennial league champion Laguna Beach on Tuesday. Estancia has never defeated the Breakers in Orange Coast League action. No team has topped Laguna Beach during the Orange Coast League’s 10 years in existence.
The Eagles most likely need to go 2-1 the rest of the way in league and they’re going to need some help in order to finish second, ahead of Calvary Chapel. Calvary Chapel also has one more date with Laguna Beach, on Oct. 29. Calvary Chapel’s home match is in the middle of road contests against Saddleback and Costa Mesa.
Estancia might need to ask the Mustangs for a favor in Costa Mesa’s league final against Calvary Chapel on Nov. 3.
“We’re going to need some help and we’ve got to run the [table],” said Hanson for his team to have any chance at returning to the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs for the second straight year.
