The title chase begins

Mike Sciacca

When the six Sunset League coaches handicapped the 2003 boys’

volleyball race at the outset of the season in March, three teams

were championship contenders in a league considered to be the

toughest in Orange County.

As the second half of league play is set to open Friday night,

those three teams -- Esperanza, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley

-- deemed as the favorites are indeed the schools occupying the top

three spots.

“In this league though, you need to be on your game because any

team is capable of beating the other,” said Huntington Beach coach

Rocky Ciarelli. “If you don’t come ready on game night, you will get

beat -- this league is that balanced.”

While Ciarelli acknowledged the stiff competition of the South

Coast League, he said that from league-leading Esperanza, all the way

down to sixth-place Los Alamitos, Sunset League teams are tough to

beat.

In fact, he went on to say that the 2003 league race is the

toughest he’s seen.

And Ciarelli should know. This is his 22nd year in the league. In

addition to coaching at Huntington Beach, he also coached at Edison.

“The balance in this league is incredible,” he said. “In fact,

this is about as balanced it’s been in all of Orange County as I’ve

ever seen. Usually, there’s four or five good teams in the county,

then there’s a drop off from there. This year, it’s a different case

as there are plenty of really good county teams.”

Ciarelli has one of them.

Huntington Beach was 11-1 overall heading into a key Wednesday

clash against Fountain Valley. The Oilers’ lone loss came April 4 at

Esperanza, which led the league as of Wednesday with a 4-0 record.

Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley entered their showdown with

identical 3-1 marks.

The Oilers are looking to capture their first Sunset title since

1996. They are doing so with a veteran roster that includes returning

four of six starters from a 2003 squad that reached the second round

of the playoffs, as well as an infusion of players who played on last

year’s junior varsity team that won the league championship.

Overall, 10 of 14 players on the roster are seniors.

“We have good balance and leadership,” Ciarelli said. “We can move

the ball around and pass really well. We didn’t play that well in

that first game against Esperanza but like I said, you need to be on

every game in this league.”

Esperanza has done just that, beating each league rival during the

first half of league play, “quite easily,” as Ciarelli said.

Huntington Beach survived a tough schedule to open the season with

11 wins in its first 12 starts.

The Oilers have beaten Woodbridge and Dana Hills, ranked sixth and

tied for 10th, respectively, in Division I, and have taken care on

Division II schools Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, ranked fourth

and fifth.

Ciarelli starts four seniors and a junior on the floor. He calls

setter Brock Boyce the team’s “vocal leader,” and Kenny Markwardt the

“physical leader.”

Markwardt leads the Oilers in kills with 212 on the season,

followed by middle blocker Eric Eastman who has 117.

Eastman holds a .378 hitting percentage and Markwardt comes in at

.314. As a team, the Oilers have an outstanding .370 hitting

percentage.

Huntington Beach launches the second half of league play Friday at

Los Alamitos. After that, there’s a Wednesday home match with Marina

followed by a May 2 rematch at home against Esperanza.

Only two of their remaining five league matches will be played on

the Oilers’ home court.

“It’s going to take some focus this next month if we want to win a

league championship,” Ciarelli said. “All we can do is take it one

game at a time. It doesn’t take much for a team to have an off match

and if you do in this league, you’ll get beat. We have to be ready

for every game from here on out.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.