Oilers meet their match

CYPRESS — The Dos Pueblos High volleyball team didn’t take much time to test the waters against Huntington Beach.

An 11-1 start to Game 1 made sure the top-seeded Chargers would set the tempo early in Saturday night’s CIF Southern Section Division I-A championship match. And it didn’t get much easier for the Oilers, who suffered a 25-12, 25-10, 25-18 loss.

Huntington Beach plays on in the Division I state playoffs, where the Oilers will be on the road Tuesday night.

“We let them control the match,” Oilers junior outside hitter Andrea Streips said after falling to Dos Pueblos. “We really didn’t step up and set ourselves up to control the match. When they went on those runs it was hard for us to be back in. We just needed to be more disciplined.”

Unseeded Huntington Beach (18-12), which had played so well in topping No. 3-seeded Marymount and No. 2 Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals and finals, respectively, seemed to be just outmatched against Dos Pueblos (30-2). The Chargers were also more experienced, having lost to Santa Barbara in the CIF final last year; Huntington Beach was making its first CIF final appearance since 1996.

Senior Carly Wopat had 12 kills for Dos Pueblos, leading four players with at least eight kills each. The kill leader for Huntington Beach was senior outside Kellie Turner, with five.

Midway through Game 2, the Oilers had just two kills for the match until senior middle blocker Haleigh Hampton banged one home. By then, though, Huntington Beach was down a game and in a 10-3 hole in the second game.

“I think we only had nine kills for the match,” Oilers Coach Craig Pazanti said. “If we’re not going to pass the ball, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble. They took us out of our game at the service line.”

Dos Pueblos had a 10-2 lead in service aces, led by Wopat with three. She also had four blocks. Sammie Brown had nine kills and Sam Wopat and Taylor Racich had eight kills each.

“That’s why they’re as good as they are,” Pazanti said of the team ranked No. 7 in the nation in the ESPN Rise high school rankings. “They can set whoever, do whatever they want... To get here with the big crowd and not put out that effort, it’s a little disappointing. But give them credit; they did that to us. They’re a great team.”

But the Oilers, the Sea View League champions, could still leave the court at Cypress College with their heads high.

“Honestly, at least we made it here,” Hampton said. “No one expected us to make it, and we did. Yeah, it’s tough to lose after all that, but it’s not over. We’re going to make state. Of course it’s disappointing to lose, but I don’t feel like it’s over for us.”