by Kevin Cody
Mira Costa High defeated Huntington Beach High at Mira Costa Saturday night to win the CIF Division 1 Southern California Regional Volleyball Championships.
Next Saturday, Costa will compete against Archbishop Mitty, of San Jose, for the first ever, CIF State Boys Volleyball title at Fresno City College.
Mira Costa previously defeated Huntington, just a week ago, in a hard fought, five-set match to claim the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title.
At home this past Saturday, Mira Costa swept Huntington 3-0, but the win was more difficult than the score suggests.
In the first set, Huntington jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Mira Costa Coach Greg Snyder called a time out when Huntington extended its lead to 9-4. But Huntington continued to control the game by containing Costa outside hitter Cooper Keane.
Coach Snyder’s second time out, when the set appeared lost, at 17-8, produced better results. Costa spread around its offense, and outscored Huntington 13 to 4 to finally catch Huntington, at 21-21. A dink by Costa setter Andrew Chapin gave his team its first lead, prompting Huntington coach Craig Pazanti to call a time out. But that opened the door for Costa to deploy its home court advantage. Fans began singing along to Queen’s “We will rock you,” blasting over the sound system. Costa had 28 consecutive home court victories coming into Saturday night.
After the time out, Huntington tied the score at 24-24. But a kill by Keane, and a block by Alex Heins completed Costa’s surge, 26-24.
Despite Huntington’s first set collapse, the second set was similarly close, though the early scoring was reversed. Huntington trailed until tying the score 14-14, and then taking the lead after chasing down a ball deflected past the back of the court. Huntington held on to the lead until 20-19, when it served into the net. Huntington didn’t score again.
Costa retook the lead by chasing down an errant pass, and then scoring the next five points.
Huntington continued to be competitive in the third set, causing eight lead changes before Mira Costa took the lead permanently, at 8-7. From there Costa’s Keane, Grayson Bradford and Heins scored seemingly at will. Costa won the decisive match 25-16.
Keane finished with 16 kills and Bradford with seven kills and 5 blocks. ER
