CIF champion Eagles flying high

Barry Faulkner

There was, in the end, as much relief as joy for the Estancia High

boys volleyball team, which claimed the program’s first CIF Southern

Section title with a 25-15, 25-20, 20-25, 26-24 victory over Orange

Lutheran in the Division III final Saturday at Cypress College.

The Eagles (28-6) opened the season ranked atop Division III after

reaching the Division III semifinals last spring with virtually the

same lineup.

This season, they steamrolled to the program’s first outright

league crown since 1984, winning every game in 12 Golden West League

matches.

Then, as the top seed, Coach Tracey Ingraham’s Eagles swept their

first four playoff opponents to reach the final.

Saturday’s triumph, however, came with no shortage of drama, as

the unseeded Lancers (16-3) put up an admirable fight, especially

after a shaky opening game.

“We played really well and we battled,” said Orange Lutheran Coach

Mark Laulhere, whose squad was eliminated, 15-10, 15-2, 15-11, by the

Eagles in last year’s second round. “But [the Eagles] were just a

step above us today.”

The Eagles, who sprung a surprise alignment on the Lancers, never

trailed in the opening game. They then rallied from a 15-13 deficit

to win the second game and take firm command.

The Empire League champion Lancers, however, opened a 19-12

third-game lead and held on to hand Estancia its first taste of

adversity since it dropped the third game of a best-of-three

tournament match against Westlake May 1.

The fourth game was tied nine times, including deadlocks at 17,

19, 20, 21 and 24, before the Eagles were allowed to celebrate.

A stuff block by junior setter Trevor Holmes put the Eagles up,

23-21, but 6-foot-6 Orange Lutheran senior Scott Nickerson’s kill

pulled the Lancers within one.

After a replay call on a would-be kill by Estancia senior opposite

Kris Hartwell, Holmes, who finished with 32 assists, found a hole

with a dump (flipping the ball one-handed over the net, rather than

setting up an opponent for a kill attempt) for a 24-22 edge.

But an Estancia jump serve sailed long and the Eagles followed

with a hitting error to allow the Lancers to pull even.

Hartwell pounded a kill to put the Eagles back on top and

sophomore middle blocker Dallas Kopp turned away a Lancer attacker

with a stuff block for match point.

Estancia’s celebration was joyous, but hardly wild, and senior

Josh Kornegay said immediately following the match that relief was

his overriding sensation.

“I’m just happy we got it over with and we finally got [the

championship],” said Kornegay, the team’s lone four-year varsity

performer who had eight kills, two stuff blocks, one service ace and

seven digs.

Kornegay said last year’s easy playoff win over Orange Lutheran

may have created some complacency.

“I think we came in a little cocky and, after the first game, we

got even more cocky,” Kornegay said. “We kind of let our guard down

and started making some dumb mistakes. This is definitely a relief.”

Scott Sankey, a 6-6 senior middle blocker, had a team-high 12

kills and also chipped in two aces and two stuff blocks for the

winners.

Hartwell, like Kornegay a returning All-CIF performer, had 10

kills, two aces and 10 digs, while senior Brad Larsen chipped in six

kills, and a team-high 11 digs.

Laulhere said Ingraham also made a vital contribution.

“They flip-flopped their lineup on us after we thought we really

had them scouted well,” Laulhere said. “Being a great coach, she made

some changes and we really didn’t adjust well that first game.”

Ingraham said she “spun the dial” on her typical starting

rotation, moving everyone ahead three spots on the floor in order to

match Hartwell up with Lancer junior Brandon Bollweg, who had a

team-high 16 kills in Tuesday’s semifinal win.

“We guessed right,” said Ingraham, who saw Bollweg record just

seven kills, tied for second best on his team behind junior Travis

Pinick, who came off the bench to collect 11.

The Eagles also put pressure on the Lancers with relentlessly

aggressive jump serving. Estancia, blasting a jumper on nearly every

serve, had six aces and two service winners, spread between five

players, including sophomore defensive specialist Scott Markley.

Ingraham said the victory was the fruition of four seasons of hard

work for the senior nucleus that, in their first season together on

the varsity in 2002, struggled to a 4-13 record, including an 0-10

mark in the Pacific Coast League.

“To see that core group of seniors come together and work through

that losing season as sophomores and be able to finish it out like

this is remarkable,” Ingraham said.

“We really wanted it this year. We’ve been counting on this day

for the last couple years and, deep down, we believed this was our

year to shine. It was not even an option not to win. [Losing] was not

even a thought.”

Larsen, who was clutching the championship plaque just outside the

gym after most of his teammates had already filtered to their cars,

summed up what the title meant to him.

“We worked so hard for it,” he said. “That instant when you win

and it just all comes together is the greatest feeling in the world.”