All-Sunset League CIF SoCal final
The Huntington Beach and Edison high school girls’ volleyball teams split the Sunset League title in October.
The next crown the rivals are playing for is one that no side has to share.
The CIF State Southern California Regional Division I girls’ volleyball final will be an All-Sunset League affair between the Oilers and Chargers.
Top-seeded Huntington Beach (32-4) plays host to No. 2 Edison (34-8) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The winner earns a trip to the CIF State Division I championship match on Dec. 2 at Santiago Canyon College in Orange.
The Oilers or Chargers play the winner of the Northern California Regional Division I finale between No. 1 Menlo-Atherton (29-5) and No. 2 El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge (37-8). Just like Huntington Beach and Edison have squared off this year, so have Menlo-Atherton and Oak Ridge.
Menlo-Atherton defeated Oak Ridge, 25-23, 25-15, in a best-of-three semifinal at the Tiger Cup on Oct. 22, before winning the tournament at Belmont Notre Dame.
Those two programs met on a neutral court.
Fans might think the home-court advantage favors Huntington Beach against Edison. Playing at home did not make a difference the two times the Oilers and Chargers played in league.
Huntington Beach traveled to Edison and swept the Chargers, 25-21, 25-21, 26-24, on Sept. 27, and the Chargers pulled out an 18-25, 25-22, 25-19, 19-25, 15-11 win at Huntington Beach on Oct. 13. Both teams finished 9-1 in league, but the Oilers earned the league’s No. 1 entry into the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs because of the head-to-head tiebreaker, they beat the Chargers in fewer sets.
Getting the league’s top berth gave Huntington Beach a No. 4 seed in the playoffs and a first-round bye, while Edison opened with Trabuco Hills at home. The Oilers and Chargers wound up losing in the quarterfinals on Nov. 5, Huntington Beach at Long Beach Poly and Edison at No. 3 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.
Almost two weeks later, Huntington Beach and Edison received the top two seeds in the SoCal Regional Division I playoffs. During the tournament, Huntington Beach Coach Craig Pazanti and Edison Coach Matt Skolnik were reluctant to look ahead to a possible All-Sunset League SoCal Regional final, knowing their teams had to win three contests to reach this stage in the season.
The Oilers and Chargers have arrived for a third showdown. Each side boasts a lot of talent. At Huntington Beach, there is outside hitter Cami Sanchez, opposites Jillian Kim and Anna Carroll, middle blocker Julia Jackson and libero Ashley Stevens, while Edison has libero Dani Dennison, outside hitters Hannah Phair and Cassidy Dennison, setter Lindsey Sparks and middle blocker Kristin Austin.
Huntington Beach and Edison did not have to travel during the SoCal Regional tournament, as the top seeds get to play at home.
Now it’s Edison turn to make a trip, one that is not too far away. The distance to Huntington Beach is 3.8 miles, and the Chargers have to get past the Oilers to make their first state finals appearance in the program’s history.
“I’m excited for the chance to make the state finals,” Skolnik said. “Huntington Beach is a great team that is going to be tough to beat. We split wins during the season and there is no bigger match to break that tie.”
Huntington Beach is looking to advance to the state finals for the third time. The other two times came in Division II and with Rocky Ciarelli and his wife, Cammy, in charge, first in 1994 and then in ‘96, the year the Oilers won it.
Twenty years later, the Oilers are on the cusp of getting to play for another state crown.
Ocean View to name gym after Coach Harris
Ocean View will honor the late Jim Harris by naming its gym after one of the most successful boys’ basketball coaches in the state.
The ceremony for Harris will be held Saturday during the Coaches for a Cause basketball event at Ocean View at 3:30 p.m. Tim Walsh, the school’s athletic director, said the proceeds from the event will go to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.
There will be four games before the ceremony at Ocean View, the first between the Saddleback and Magnolia boys’ teams at 9 a.m., followed up by the Troy and Saddleback Valley Christian boys’ teams at 10:30 a.m., the Ocean View and Marina girls’ teams at noon, and then the Ocean View and Laguna Hills boys’ teams at 1:30 p.m.
Two boys’ basketball games will be at Marina, Capistrano Valley Christian against Los Angeles Ribet Academy at 11:30 a.m. and Marina against Segerstrom at 1 p.m.
Harris went 665-265 during his 33 seasons in charge of Ocean View. The wins are the 18th most by any coach in the state. He led the program to two CIF Southern Section championships and 19 league titles.
Harris, at age 67, died on Oct. 23, 2011, after a bout with cancer.
