Energized Eagles

Bryce Alderton

A pregame lunch at the Side Street Cafe in Costa Mesa has become

tradition for the Estancia High boys volleyball team under third-year

coach Tracey Heims before its crosstown rivalry match with Costa

Mesa.

Again Friday the meal provided the fuel for the Eagles (10-2, 4-0

in the Golden West League) and the players in turn exhibited their

volleyball prowess over the inexperienced Mustangs, 15-1, 15-5, 15-1,

in a league match at Mesa.

Heims, whose family owns the cafe the Eagles dined at Friday,

collected her second win against the Mustangs the previous two

seasons at the helm, the last coming in 2001.

“Anytime we beat Mesa it’s a good win,” Heims said. “We’ve grown a

lot since last year when we had all sophomores and juniors with no

seniors.”

Mesa meanwhile was on its way to the first round of the CIF

Southern Section Division IV Playoffs a year ago with a senior-laden

team that included Eli Solis, Carlos Jaime, Jordan Feldman and Jeff

Collett.

Reverse the roles this season and you have Mesa’s makeup.

Six of 13 Mustangs are either sophomores or freshmen who have

never played varsity volleyball before.

“We have a real hard time competing,” said Mesa Coach Dave

Sorrells. “We practice a lot harder than we play. When we play

against a team even a little bit better than us, it’s like a deer in

the headlights. We’re playing afraid right now.”

Estancia sensed Mesa’a passivity in the opening game, racing to a

9-0 lead with three of junior middle blocker Scott Sankey’s game-high

10 kills, one on a two-hand stuff block. Seven of Estancia’s 12

service aces came in Game 1, with junior Kris Hartwell, Josh Kornegay

and Brad Larsen each tallying two, while sophomore setter Trevor

Holmes opened the match with one.

Holmes recorded 22 assists, passing to Hartwell and Larsen [six

kills each] and Kornegay [six kills]. Hartwell led the Eagles with

nine digs.

“We’ve been trying to improve our defense and connect with our

middles,” said Heims, who played volleyball at Estancia. “The

outsides haven’t been getting kills so we’ve been forced to pass to

the middle, which is good. We got a lot attempts today.”

Sorrells highlighted sophomore middle blockers Gabriel Gonzales

and Garrett Walthers as Mesa’s most consistent players of the season.

Walthers led Mesa with three kills and had one stuff block minutes

into the match. Gonzales led the Mustangs with three stuff blocks and

gave Mesa a sideout with a tip after Estancia passed once over the

net at 2-1 in the second game.

Mesa (1-7, 0-3 in league) held tough, getting within 4-3 in the

second game before Estancia rattled off eight consecutive points.

Larsen served six consecutive points in that span.

Dallas Kopp up front and Jess Hellmich in the back row provided

consistency for the Eagles Friday.

Freshman Andrew Melcer had five digs for Mesa while John Santos

tallied four.

Sorrells was impressed with senior Elias Campos, who began Game 3

serving, and set several times for Mesa hitters.