Mira Costa junior setter Andrew Chapin helped lead the Mustangs to Saturday’s four-set win over Corona del Mar to advance to next week’s CIF-SS Division 1 final (Photo by Damian Calhoun, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
MANHATTAN BEACH The Mira Costa boys volleyball had one final hurdle to clear to get back to the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 final.
After winning their first two matches of pool play, the second-seeded Mustangs had to deal with visiting Corona del Mar Saturday, a team that had defeated them earlier this season.
After winning the first two sets, Mira Costa hit a roadblock to the potential sweep, but righted the ship in time in the fourth set to complete the 25-12, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22 win.
“In the third set, we came out flat and started playing tense,” junior setter Andrew Chapin said. “By the time the fourth set, we down halfway through and then we found a sense of energy serving and I thought we did a good job picking it (the energy) back up and we finished the job.”
The Mustangs (36-3) trailed by three early in the fourth set and at 18-16. From there, Mira Costa scored four consecutive points for a 20-18 lead and their sights were set on the finals.
With a 20-19 lead, Mira Costa added three consecutive points, two on combination blocks by Stone Seligson and Alex Heins.
“We had two bad losses,” Chapin said. “Two losses that we don’t think we should have, one to them CdM, earlier in the season, this was a great win tonight, good comeback win.”
The tone of the night could have been different for the Mustangs. After controlling play in the first set, Mira Costa fell behind 5-0 in the second and didn’t take his first lead to Mateo Fuerbringer kill to make it 14-13. That’s when the back-and-forth began, with Corona del Mar re-taking the lead at 19-18.
The Mustangs would get to set point on a kill from Cooper Keane and Victor Loiola end the second set with an ace for a 2-0 lead.
“We knew a response was coming,” Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said. “I still think we were a better team than them and in fact the way we were playing, I thought we were actually going to sweep them.
“After winning the first two (sets), I thought they were a little bit demoralized. I knew they were going to rally. It was going to go either way, we were either going to get their best punch or they were going to fold in the towel and I knew they weren’t going to fold in the towel. “I thought we responded in the second set that it might have given us the edge that we needed emotionally to carry us through the third set, but as expected it was a fight in that third set for sure.”
The Mustangs will get another chance to avenge their other losses when they meet top-seeded Loyola in the finals Saturday at Cerritos College. The teams met in March with Loyola winning in four sets.
“They don’t like to lose,” Snyder said of his team. “I think the biggest factor was the temptation of being in the finals. They haven’t been it. Only Victor (Loiola) was on the team that made it (in 2021), he’s the only one that’s tasted the finals, so they were really hungry to get there again.”
In Division 2, Redondo advanced to the final with his 25-21, 26-28, 25-19, 25-19 win over Beckman. The Sea Hawks will face Santa Margarita in the final.
