Oilers out-spike Sailors

Mike Sciacca

In an interesting match that had several momentum twists and turns,

Huntington Beach High boys’ volleyball coach Rocky Ciarelli reached a

milestone Friday when his Oilers defeated Newport Harbor.

The veteran coach, who is in his 21st year at Huntington Beach,

recorded coaching victory No. 300 when the Oilers survived the host

Sailors, 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 15-25, 18-16 in nonleague play.

Ciarelli coached three years at Edison before moving on to coach

at Huntington.

Did he think he’d ever reach the 300-victory plateau?

“Not when I started coaching,” he said with a laugh. “No, this is

a nice thing, but it’s not something I really thought about, although

this season, I was aware that it could come up.”

Trey Valbuena and Rory Jones hit double figures in kills with 17

and 12, respectively, to lead the Oilers, who are the No. 1-ranked

team in CIF-Southern Section Division I.

Huntington claimed a win in the first game, a game in which

Ciarelli felt neither team played well. The Oilers began to find

their rhythm in the second game and opened up a 2-0 edge.

But Newport began to pass and defend better in games three and

four, something the Oilers got away from, and tied up the match at

2-2.

In an exciting fifth game, the Oilers came back from the brink of

defeat twice, to remain undefeated.

One night after defeating Newport, Huntington ran its record to

7-0 by sweeping visiting Woodbridge, 25-21, 25-19, 31-29.

This week, the Oilers opened up Sunset League play and traveled to

Marina Wednesday.

They host Los Alamitos on Friday.

Despite now having to focus on a 10-match league season, the

Oilers still have one other nonleague match remaining on the

schedule, an April 30 match at San Marcos.

“I tell the kids that the season is broken up into three seasons,

nonleague, league and CIF,” Ciarelli said. “They’ve been playing

pretty well, but by breaking up the season this way, it helps keep

them focused.”

In baseball, Marina captured the Don Lugo Tournament championship

by pounding host Don Lugo, 14-2, in the title game.

The Vikings’ prolific offense included home runs by Billy Nowlin

and Justin Sellers.

Nowlin, a junior catcher, delivered a two-run home run in the

first inning.

Marina took a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning, when the Vikings

put the game away by erupting for seven more runs for an 11-0

advantage.

The scoring outburst was highlighted by a three-run home run by

Sellers, a senior shortstop.

Nowlin finished with five RBI.

Senior infielder Patrick Murray doubled twice for the Vikings.

The pitching win went to senior Nick Plantz, who started on the

mound.

In two previous tournament games, Marina defeated Chino Hills,

5-2, and Yucaipa, 6-1, in pool play.

In going 4-0 during the tournament, the Vikings scored more than

40 runs and held the opposition to 12 runs.

“The kids are playing really well, and our pitching is starting to

come along, as we had expected,” Marina coach Paul Renfrow said. “We

swung the bats pretty good and played some good defense.”

Plantz, Michael Olmsted and Jimmy Cooper, all seniors, are

Marina’s top three pitchers.

Ocean View’s bid to claim the Coachella Valley Tournament title

was denied by Calexico, which defeated the Seahawks, 2-1, in the

tournament final.

Ocean View had defeated Calexico, 13-3, prior to the title game.

“I think we ran out of runs, maybe using them all up the day

before,” Ocean View coach Aaron Kavanagh said. “We lost despite the

best efforts of Jeff Roth.”

Roth’s outstanding title game performance included a complete game

on the mound. He recorded nine strikeouts while allowing just four

hits. He also was two for three at the plate, including a triple and

home run.

Roth, Alex Burnett and Matt Hughes represented Ocean View on the

all-tournament team.

At the Bishop Gorman Tournament, Edison fell short of the

tournament title in a 14-7 loss to Catalina Foothills of Tucson,

Ariz., in the championship games.

The Chargers had won three straight games to reach the tournament

final.

In weightlifting, Huntington Beach junior Josh Coleman won his

first national championship at the 2005 National Junior Championships

in St. Paul, Minn.

The three-day tournament drew top snatch and clean-and-jerk

competitors from around the nation.

Coleman, 17, won his title in the 69 kilos class (ages 18-20) on

Friday night, in a thrilling competition that went to the wire.

He cleared 100 kilos (220-pounds) in the snatch and a personal

best 132.5 kilos (291 1/2 -pounds) in the clean-and-jerk.

Coleman also recorded a new personal competition total at 232 1/2

-pounds.

In order to total, each competitor must successfully clear each

lift once.

They each get three attempts in each lift during competition.

“This is pretty cool for Josh in the sense that he was competing

in this age group for the first time,” said Stephanie Ciarelli,

Coleman’s weightlifting coach.