Top-seeded Mira Costa fought back from an opening-set loss to eliminate No. 7 St. John Bosco 23-15, 25-18, 25-18, 25-17 on the road Saturday, advancing to the semifinals where the Mustangs will travel to face No. 4 Huntington Beach on Wednesday.
The winner will take on the victor between No. 2 Loyola and No. 3 San Clemente in the Division 1 CIF Southern Section/Ford Boys Volleyball Championships on Saturday at Santiago Canyon College.
Scott Stephanoff led the Mustangs with a match-high 17 kills against St. John Bosco while Casey White recorded 14 kills and Riley Mallon added 10 kills
Mira Costa coach Mike Ninnis feels his team is well prepared for a run at back-to-back CIF titles after improving its record to 32-2.
“The keys to winning are to execute all of our fundamentals well, to stay focused on the match at hand and not look ahead, and to keep our emotions in check,” Ninnis said. “Huntington Beach has excellent players and has had a very successful season. We need to travel to their gym and win in a hostile environment. We feel that our schedule has prepared the team to be successful in a match just like this. We have the players to accomplish this, but the team needs to be executing at the top of their game if we are going to return to the finals Saturday evening.”
Redondo (22-12) saw its season end with a 25-22, 25-16, 25-19 home loss to Loyola in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Louis Richard led the Sea Hawks with 15 kills and two blocks.
In Division 4, second-seeded Bishop Montgomery (22-8) eliminated No. 7 Vistamar 25-16, 25-19, 16-25, 25-20 in the quarterfinals and hosted No. 6 St. Margaret’s (20-6-1) on Wednesday. The winner will face the Cathedral-Santa Fe winner in the championships on Saturday.
