Estancia owns Mesa

COSTA MESA — There’s really no excuse not to be all jacked up to play your cross-town rival.

When Costa Mesa High is on the other side of the girls’ volleyball net, Annie Tomasek knows what she and her Estancia teammates are in store for every time.

“It’s one of the easier [matches] to play,” Tomasek said.

Tuesday’s Orange Coast League match confirmed that again, as the host Eagles swept Costa Mesa, 25-23, 25-16, 25-14. It is the second time Estancia (13-8, 3-1 in league) has beaten its rival in three games this year.

The last time the Mustangs have won a match against Estancia, Costa Mesa coach Casey Petersen didn’t know.

“Maybe two years ago,” she said, getting it wrong.

Try Nov. 5, 2004, when the Mustangs were a playoff-bound team and not in last place in league like they are this season. But don’t blame the former Mustangs’ player. She was gone, in college when the Eagles began beating up on her alma mater. The Eagles are now 9-0 against Costa Mesa since Estancia last lost to the Mustangs.

This is Petersen’s second year, during that time she’s seen the Mustangs get swept in each of the five matches she’s coached against Estancia.

During the nine-match win streak, Estancia has won every game, totaling 27 games. So when Costa Mesa rallied in the opening game Tuesday, cutting the deficit, 21-20, on middle blocker Shannon Walthers’ kill, there was reason to celebrate.

It appeared as three years of being dominated would end if the Mustangs (4-9, 0-4) figured a way to win Game 1. Estancia Coach Jim Huffman called a timeout, trying to stop an 8-1 run.

The Eagles now had to battle to make sure their second-place cushion in front of Calvary Chapel in league stayed intact.

Huffman called the first game, “a hiccup.” The Eagles didn’t need to breathe into a bag five times, or use some other remedy to get rid of it. Tomasek took care of it. The 6-foot outside hitter recorded one of her match-high 13 kills down the stretch to help keep the game streak alive against Costa Mesa.

“We had to really work hard as a team this time,” said Tomasek, receiving a wake-up call as did the rest of Eagles against young, inexperienced players that Petersen said still get “nervous” playing.

Estancia is headed for a second straight league finish, with Tomasek and senior middle blocker Olivia Schow leading the way. Calvary Chapel (8-9, 1-3) did take its first match against the Eagles to five games in the first meeting, with Estancia pulling out the victory last week.

Thursday the two schools meet again. This time at Estancia at 4:30 p.m. and Huffman is predicting the league outcome.

“I’m really happy where we’re at, because really, if we can beat Calvary Chapel on Thursday night, it pretty much assures us second place in league,” said Huffman, who is in his fifth year at Estancia. “Mathematically we can still win league. We have to beat Laguna [Beach] twice, which is not going to be easy to do.

“We actually match up well with them, except for one thing, they got Dana Hutchinson.”

Hutchinson, a senior outside hitter headed for Arizona, is one player Estancia has no answers for on the court. Hutchinson was named the CIF Southern Section Division II Player of the Year last year, when the Breakers won the league title, the Division II-AA section title, the Southern California Regional Division II title, and played in the state title match.

Everyone knows Laguna Beach (15-7, 4-0), ranked No. 1 in Division II-AA, is the team to beat again.

“The only team that’s really tough for us to beat is Laguna [Beach],” Tomasek said. “We’ve had a hard time against Calvary [Chapel], but we can still beat them.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.