Boys’ Volleyball: Mustangs fall in opener
Six years is how long the Costa Mesa High boys’ volleyball team waited for Tuesday’s moment, a chance to compete in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
It appeared the moment and opponent was too big for the Mustangs. When Capistrano Valley walked into Costa Mesa’s gym, the Cougars’ size affected the Mustangs.
“We were intimidated,” Costa Mesa Coach Todd Hanson said. “The fact that they’re the No. 9-ranked team in CIF and the fact that they’re so big [were the reasons why we were intimidated]. One of my starting outsides is [5-foot-6], maybe 5-7, and so they immediately were like, ‘Oh my gosh. They’re just so big.’”
After the first two sets, the Mustangs’ Division 2 postseason appearance looked as though it would be over in a flash. Capistrano Valley was on its way to a sweep, until Costa Mesa fought back and won the third set to stay alive.
The Mustangs continued to challenge the Cougars in the fourth set, cutting the deficit to 22-21 and trying to force a decisive fifth set. That’s as close as they came, before Capistrano Valley prevailed, 25-16, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, in the first round.
At match point, Colby Elder’s service ace sealed the Cougars’ first postseason win in two years. The Mustangs, trailing, 24-22, called a timeout, hoping to trip up Elder. It didn’t happen, and Costa Mesa’s first playoff match since 2009 ended in the opening round.
“I’m just frustrated with getting that [draw],” Hanson said, referring to the Cougars, the second-place team from the Sea View League. “I thought we had earned a better draw than that. We worked really hard. We had a great season. We played [No. 4-seeded] Laguna [Beach] to five [sets] in [its] home [during Orange Coast League play]. We had some quality wins and we went 8-2 in a pretty tough league. It was hard to see … [Capistrano Valley] in the first round.”
Capistrano Valley (23-9-2) advanced to the second round and will play host to Simi Valley Royal on Thursday. Royal topped Long Beach Poly in five sets.
The Cougars stopped their opener from going the distance. UC Irvine-bound senior Grant Friedman led the way, recording six of his 21 kills in the fourth set.
Friedman’s 6-foot-5 size, as well as that of 6-7 opposite Bobby Gains and 6-6 middle blockers Patrick Furlong and Chris Orem, proved to be too much for Costa Mesa to handle. Gains finished with 19 kills, and he, Furlong, Orem and Friedman combined to turn away Costa Mesa’s top threat, Mason Tufuga, a handful of times.
“That was the problem in the first two games,” Hanson said. “They really shut Mason down and we couldn’t get anything else going.”
Tufuga, a 6-5 opposite, found his swing in the final two sets, producing 13 of his 27 kills during the stretch. Helping Tufuga’s cause was setter Coby Pham keeping the Cougars honest by feeding middle blockers Joseph Saucedo and Christian Chavez a few times.
Tufuga and Pham, who collected 26 assists, keyed the Mustangs’ turnaround from a fifth-place team in league last year to a second-place one this year. This season, Costa Mesa finished 13-5 overall, winning two more matches than it had in the previous four years combined.
Tufuga and Pham, both juniors, plan to return next season for Hanson, who in his second season led Costa Mesa to its first winning season in six years. The team next year will also have outside hitter Nick Warner, a sophomore, who finished with five kills and 10 digs, but Costa Mesa loses Saucedo and libero Andres Ramirez to graduation.
“I’m extremely proud,” Hanson said. “I sat them down over [in the corner] and told them how extremely proud I was that they didn’t give up. A lot of teams after losing those first two games would’ve just rolled over in the third, and we fought back and played a great third set. We were right there to the very end of the fourth set.”