Costa Mesa girls’ volleyball gets past first-round hurdle

For the non-perennial powerhouses in girls’ volleyball, CIF Southern Section playoff appearances are something to celebrate.

Costa Mesa High and Tustin have made the postseason in recent years, but getting out of the first round has been another story.

Tuesday night’s match became defined as one to see who would be able to capitalize on their opportunity to advance out of the first round for the first time in quite some time.

Malia Tufuga made sure Costa Mesa kept playing in the postseason.

The sophomore standout finished with 22 assists, 20 kills and three service aces, leading the host Mustangs past the Tillers 23-25, 25-19, 28-26, 25-17 in the first round of the Division 5 playoffs.

No matter what happened on Tuesday, Mustangs coach Todd Hanson made sure to tell his players just how proud he was of them. Hanson, in his fifth season in charge of the Mustangs, pulled them aside before the match to do just that, calling them the closest and most successful group of girls he has coached.

They added another chapter to a strong season. According to athletic director Sharon Uhl, who has been at Costa Mesa since 1997, the girls’ volleyball team is the first to reach the second round during her time at the school.

“We play as a team,” Tufuga said. “Volleyball is a team sport, and when you play as an individual, I don’t think you can perform as well as we did.

“Playing as a team just kind of escalated our energy. We’re constantly encouraging each other.”

The Mustangs (19-6) were sharp out of the gate, but the Tillers (15-10) were able to pull out a close first set. Kuirae Dunn had five kills and two assists in the opening set, helping Tustin win it 25-23.

Costa Mesa bounced right back to take the second set, opening it by taking six consecutive points on Tufuga’s serve. The sophomore was able to take the Tillers out of system by dropping her serve short, forcing Tustin to scramble for its first touch.

Ava McInnes, an imposing sophomore outside hitter at 6-foot-1 for Tustin, had gotten into rhythm in the second set, notching five kills. In Game 3, the Mustangs allowed just two kills to McInnes, which allowed them to erase a 14-8 deficit.

“We realized what [McInnes] was doing,” Mustangs senior middle blocker Felicia Crenshaw said. “We realized that in order to win this game, we had to be able to take away that hitter. We had to pick up those tips, pick up those hits.”

By patrolling the whereabouts of McInnes, the Mustangs forced Tillers setter Citlalli Vergara (14 assists, four aces) to look elsewhere. McInnes had a chance to extend Game 3, but a powerful swing from the sophomore went long to give Costa Mesa the third set.

“About halfway through the second set, I started moving Courtney [Moore] around wherever that hitter was,” Hanson said of the strategy to neutralize McInnes. “There were a couple of huge blocks and great touches that we got on her.

“We made the adjustment of serving at her to get her out of her pattern, and then we put our big blockers up on her. I think that’s what made the difference for us.”

Moore had 21 kills and two blocks. Crenshaw added eight kills and two blocks.

Sprawling defensive efforts were also put forth by setter Ashley Nguyen and libero Rae Galarion. They dove for balls often to keep points alive for the Mustangs. Nguyen wound up with 21 assists, two kills and one ace.

Costa Mesa will stay at home for the second round. The Mustangs won the coin flip and will play host to top-seeded Thousand Oaks La Reina (26-6) on Thursday. The Regents defeated West Covina South Hills 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 in the first round on Tuesday.

The Mustangs will try to upset last year’s section finals runner-up.

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