Estancia continues to adjust

COSTA MESA — Well into the boys’ volleyball season, Estancia High Coach Mark Cygan thinks his team is getting better with every match.

But, on a team with no returning varsity players, progress is relative. And the Eagles will take a moral victory if they can get one.

So, though Estancia suffered a 25-8, 25-9, 25-16 sweep to visiting Calvary Chapel in an Orange Coast League match Tuesday night, the third game was impressive.

Estancia (3-12, 0-4 in league) battled back from an 11-3 deficit in Game 3, pulling within 15-12 on a service ace from freshman Kyle Prevel. But Calvary Chapel (10-4, 4-1), which has established itself as the league’s clear second-place team, pulled away for the sweep.

Calvary, utilizing an effective jump serve, served up 19 aces in the match.

“Their serving was absolutely excellent tonight,” Cygan said. “Servers who serve that hard usually get three or four in a row in, then hit one into the net or out of bounds. They were consistently very good.”

Estancia junior setter Barry Fryslie, who led the team with six assists, relies on solid digs to help get those assists. Tuesday, they were a little hard to come by.

“You have to read it, you know,” Fryslie said. “It’s always a downspin on a jump serve, so you always have to push under the ball or you’ll never be able to dig it.”

The Estancia players all know this, but consistently got into trouble with their serve receive. Calvary Chapel’s Ryan Steinhaus served three straight aces midway through the first game to give his team a 14-6 lead. In Game 2, it was Cameron Karkut with three consecutive aces to push Calvary Chapel to a 16-7 lead, as the visitors were in the midst of winning 14 straight points.

Part of the breakdown is also defensive communication, which Fryslie and Cygan said the Estancia players also need to work on..

“I think not playing together for a week hurt us,” said Cygan of his team’s first match since spring break. “As games go on and the season goes on, we’re getting better, but we’re not quite there yet. But they’re working toward it.”

Sophomore Bradley Reitler led Estancia with three kills and seven digs, and Prevel added five digs of his own.

“We’ll be a lot better next year; we’re improving every match,” Reitler said. “All those little things that we’re not doing, like talking and not passing as well as we could, those are what are causing us to lose games.”

All of that is well and good to Cygan, who led Estancia to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs last season in his first as head coach. But this season is not a lost one, he insisted. Especially not with two more matches against cross-town rival Costa Mesa. The teams play April 24 at Costa Mesa High and May 2 at Estancia.