Boys take third-place tie in tourney

The Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball team finished the two-day OC

Volleyball Championships in a tie for third-place.

It was the highest finish at the prestigious tournament, hosted by

Edison High, by a Laguna team since 1998.

It was the 31st year of the tournament. Laguna Coach Lance Stewart

is the only person to win the tournament both as a player and head

coach.

He was tournament MVP when Laguna won the event in 1981, and

coached the squad to the 1989 title.

The Breakers tied Santa Margarita for third-place.

In tournament play, Laguna defeated highly-ranked Newport Harbor,

25-15, 26-24, in quarterfinal round play in the Gold Division, but

lost to eventual champion San Clemente, 25-19, 25-21, in the

semifinal round.

The Breakers also defeated Pacific Coast League rival Corona del

Mar, 25-20, 21-25, 17-15, and Capistrano Valley, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11,

in tournament action.

Trey Chapel, who had 36 kills, 32 digs and five block assists in

five games, represented Laguna on the all-tournament team.

In nonleague play Tuesday, the Laguna and San Clemente met again,

this time, on the Breakers’ home court, and the Tritons emerged with

a 25-15, 25-20, 25-14 victory.

Talan Torriero and Chapel each had eight kills and Luke Morris

added six for the Breakers.

Laguna next travels to Santa Barbara to compete at the 29th annual

Dos Pueblos Tournament at UC Santa Barbara.

The 35-team tournament includes squads from California and Arizona

and includes Loyola, ranked No. 1 in Southern California, San

Clemente, Buchanan of Clovis, ranked No. 1 in the CIF-Central

Section, Los Gatos, No. 1 in CIF-Central Coast Section, Chatsworth,

No. 1 in CIF-Los Angeles Section, Valencia, No. 1 in CIF-Southern

Section Division II and four of the top teams from the CIF-San Diego

Section.

Laguna will compete in pool play against Dos Pueblos, Royal, Los

Gatos and Highland.

In boys’ tennis, Laguna dropped its Pacific Coast League opener at

University, 13-5.

The Breakers’ top doubles tandem of Kyle Paxson and Dieter Schmitz

swept their Trojan opponents.

In a previous nonleague match, Laguna was a 12-6 victor over host

Trabuco Hills. Eric Tran swept at No. 1 singles.