Malia Tufuga leads Costa Mesa girls’ volleyball over rival Estancia

During warmups, Costa Mesa High girls’ volleyball coach Todd Hanson sat in a seat on the near sideline.

His players continued to run drills on the court, but he was not without company.

In each chair on the bench sat a balloon animal. A closer look revealed that each was a white horse with a green mane.

Hanson mentioned that the balloon animals had been produced and provided by Naomi and Lucy Islas, a pair of sisters in the program. With such a display of good cheer and camaraderie, the Mustangs were bound to have a good night.

Indeed, they did.

Junior Malia Tufuga had 12 kills, 17 assists and three blocks, as visiting Costa Mesa came away with a 25-17, 25-17, 25-12 sweep of crosstown rival Estancia in an Orange Coast League match on Tuesday.

The match marked the first of two scheduled meetings in the Battle for the Bell. Last year, Estancia claimed the All-Sports Cup in the final meeting between the schools. The Eagles won a play-in baseball game for one of the Orange Coast League’s last two playoff berths.

“It went right down to the stretch, to the third matchup in baseball, all tied up,” Hanson said of how the rivalry played out last year. “It hurts to lose that, so every match matters.

“Last year, for the boys, we lost the first time around in a tough one, and we came out in the second one and luckily came back and beat them to get the tie, only to lose it at the very end.”

Tufuga clinched the match for the Mustangs (12-9, 4-1 in league) with service aces on the last two points. She showed great rapport with sophomore middle blocker Tarah Harmon in the third set, one that saw Harmon throw down five of her seven kills.

“She’s a great athlete, and her volleyball IQ is growing,” Tufuga said of Harmon. “She’s getting so much better as a volleyball player.”

Costa Mesa High’s Tarah Harmon (10) scores against Estancia during the first set of an Orange Coast League match on Tuesday.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

Freshman middle blocker Lorelei Hobbis also had seven kills, giving the Mustangs two dangerous options from right on top of the net.

“When we’re able to connect with our middles, it gets our energy up because we want them to do well,” Tufuga added. “They’re so young. We want them to do well.

“When the passes are good enough and the offense is quick enough to go to our middles, it brings up our energy. We’re more efficient.”

Costa Mesa senior setter Ashley Nguyen had six kills, 16 assists and two aces. Late in Game 2, she became a statistical anomaly, losing a shoe on back-to-back points.

“I’ve never seen that happen,” Hanson said. “To come out of not one shoe, but both, it wasn’t the same shoe twice. It was a different shoe both times. The fact that she had the wherewithal to play the ball, it was pretty crazy.”

The Mustangs survived the phenomenon with Nguyen intact.

Junior outside hitter Kayla Nguyen had five kills and two aces. The Mustangs are in second place after the first half of league, and Nguyen feels good about where her team is at.

“I’m really proud of this team and I can’t wait for CIF,” she said. “I believe that we will make it, and we will go far.”

Meanwhile, Eagles coach Alejandro De Mendoza saw promise in the play of reserve setter Emma Goodman. The sophomore had five assists and an ace for Estancia (8-17, 1-4).

Estancia’s Katelyn Chesemore and Murray each had four kills, with Cassie Corrigan and Chupeau each providing three kills.

“She’s still learning the offense and how to run the team,” De Mendoza said of Goodman. “It’s really a big thing right now, trying to implement a system that will work and be recognizable for them.

“I think she did a much better job of pushing it to our two best hitters, who are Madison Murray and Louise Chupeau on the left. She has a much faster tempo, which I like. The consistency and the confidence need to come a little bit later, but there are a lot of positives.”

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