Mira Costa’s boys volleyball team will face an old nemesis Thursday evening when the Mustangs travel to Loyola for a 7 p.m. Division 1 semifinal match in the CIF Southern California Regional Championships.
Third-seeded Mira Costa (25-6) will look to avenge an early-season loss to second-seeded Loyola (29-2) when the Cubs swept the Mustangs at Loyola Marymount University in March.
Both teams lost in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals but were granted high seeds in the Regionals.
After losing to eventual champion Huntington Beach, Mira Costa opened Regional competition with a 25-10, 25-19, 25-23 home win against Valencia on Tuesday.
Blake Marland led the Mustangs with 12 kills. Roy McFarland added nine kills and Carter Kimble had eight kills.
Mira Costa and Loyola players know each other well through club ball. Loyola has at least eight players on its roster who reside in Manhattan Beach.
Loyola dropped its CIF-SS Division 1 semifinal game to Corona del Mar, who is the Division 2 top seed in the Regionals.
Loyola eliminated No. 7 Otay Ranch 25-11, 25-14, 25-21 on Tuesday. Thursday’s winner will face the winner between No. 1 Huntington Beach (37-0) and No. 5 Buchanan (31-6) in the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.
In Division 2, third-seeded El Segundo (26-7) plays at No. 2 Oak Park (34-5) at 7 p.m. Thursday with the winner advancing to take on the victor between No. 1 Corona del Mar (29-5) and Clovis North.(32-11). The Division 2 championship match will be held Saturday at 5 p.m. at Cerritos College.
EL Segundo has been tested in its last two matches. The Eagles were forced to come from behind to defeat Quartz Hill 18-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-11 in the CIF-SS Division 3 championship.
In the first round of Regional competition, El Segundo bet No. 6 Mt. Carmel 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-13 to advance.
Brackets and results are available at cifstate.org.
