The heavyweights flexed their muscles Friday and advanced to the semifinals of the Santa Barbara High boys volleyball Karch Kiraly Tournament of Champions.
Top-seeded Mira Costa, No. 2 Huntington Beach, No. 3 Marist of Chicago and No. 4 St. John Bosco each won two best-of-five matches to make the final four. At 10:45 a.m., Mira Costa faces St. John Bosco while Huntington Beach takes on Marist at J.R. Richards Gym. The winners play for the title at 6:15 p.m.
Mira Costa swept the Dos Pueblos No. 2 team and beat a feisty Los Alamitos in four sets; Huntington Beach won in sweeps over Arroyo Grande and San Marcos; Marist defeated Mira Costa No. 2 and Folsom, and St. John Bosco swept Downey and beat Camarillo in four sets.
San Marcos was the lone local team to win a first-round match Friday. The Royals beat Fresno-Bullard in four sets. Dos Pueblos lost in three against Camarillo and host Santa Barbara fell to Folsom in five sets. Later in the day, San Marcos was swept by Huntington Beach, Dos Pueblos was outlasted by Downey in five sets and Santa Barbara defeated Mira Costa’s No. 2 team in four.
San Marcos played evenly against a solid Huntington Beach squad (27-2) in the first set. The score was tied at 11 before the Oilers’ 6-4 sophomore outside Logan Hartnick, junior opposite Ben Arguello and senior middle Nick Ganier went off and started finding holes in the Royals’ block or hit over the block. They went on an 8-3 run to take control of the set and won 25-19.
Huntington Beach dominated the rest of the way, winning the next two sets, 25-12, 25-14.
“In the first game, we really competed with them, and if a few more points could have gone our way, we could have taken that first game. That would be a great accomplishment for us,” said San Marcos coach Dave Goss. “Huntington Beach is experienced, they’re polished, they have some outstanding athletes, so it was fun to get to play them this year. We’ve played Loyola, we’ve played Redondo twice, and we’ve played Huntington Beach now. And those are three top, top, elite teams, and so it just makes us better.”
Huntington Beach is ranked second in the latest CIF-SS Power Rankings and is third in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Super 25 poll. Mira Costa is No. 1 in both polls and Marist is second on the national list.
Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti said his team has 15 of 18 players back from last season but the roster is a 50-50 mix of seniors and underclassmen.
“I graduated three guys from last year’s team… okay, they were three really good guys, but this team is just a little different and plays a little differently. The setter who graduated happened to be my son and he was a three-year starter, and he’s at Long Beach State now. But this guy (senior setter Kai Gan) has been in the program. He got a lot of experience last year, but he’s the only guy who’s (college) committed. He’s going to Harvard to play.”
Going into the season, Pazanti said he had good feeling about this team.
“It’s just a good group, and they grind. It’s not like you watch Mira Costa and they’re all 6-8 and hitting over people. We don’t play that way. We gotta grind and have some grit and keep the ball in play and extend rallies a bit longer. So, they’re good grinders.”
Goss liked what he saw from his Royals in the four-set win against a stubborn Bullard squad.
“(Bullard) didn’t make mistakes, so we had to play focused volleyball because they were not going to give us any points. And they didn’t. They missed two serves in the whole match,” said Goss. “They played great defense, so we had to be in system.”
Koji Hefner provided firepower in the middle, while Mateo Burdick and Calvin Frisell did damage on the outside. Frisell also served well.
“Our outsides were very strong and that made the difference,” said Goss.
San Marcos plays Folsom in a fifth-place semifinal at 9 a.m. at Santa Barbara High.
Santa Barbara takes on Bullard in the consolation semifinals at 10:45 a.m. The Dons rebounded from their loss to Folsom with a four-set win over the Mira Costa No. 2 team (25-20,15-25, 25-22, 25-19).
The other consolation semifinal has Pleasant Grove of Utah taking on Downey. The consolation final is at 5:45 p.m. at SBHS.
Downey rallied from a 2-0 deficit (25-23, 25-15) against Dos Pueblos and took the last three sets, 25-23, 26-24, 15-13, in a consolation match.
On Saturday, Dos Pueblos No. 1 plays DP No. 2 at 9 a.m. at San Marcos.