Oilers’ magical season ends

NEWPORT BEACH — One last upset win just wasn’t in the cards.

Three times in the past couple of weeks, the Huntington Beach High girls’ volleyball team had pulled it off. They upset Marymount and Santa Barbara to get to the CIF Southern Section Division I-A title match. Then, in the opening round of the CIF State Division I playoffs, they stormed back to shock defending state champ La Costa Canyon in five.

But Saturday night, the Oilers’ season ended in a 25-16, 25-19, 25-15, in a CIF State Division I Southern California Regional semifinal loss to another higher-seeded team, Newport Harbor.

“It’s kind of been, I don’t want to say surreal, but I don’t think anyone thought we’d be here at the beginning of the year,” Oilers Coach Craig Pazanti said. “It’s been a great run. This team just never quit. Even tonight, they just wouldn’t quit.”

Newport Harbor (31-6) took a 6-0 lead in Game 1, and an 8-2 advantage in Game 2. These deficits at the start of games proved to be too much to overcome. Huntington Beach (19-13) rallied in both games but could never take the lead.

The Oilers led early in Game 3, and tied the score at 5-5 on a kill from senior middle Haleigh Hampton. But then it was Newport Harbor whcih went on a run to give the Sailors the sweep.

“They’re a really solid team,” Huntington Beach junior outside hitter Andrea Streips said. “Their blocking was good. Basically, I think their blocking beat us tonight. They were really strong at the net. We had a hard time scoring. I thought our passing and defense were good, at times it was just hard.”

Hampton had 12 kills and six blocks for Huntington, and senior captain Kellie Turner had 11 kills and five blocks. Streips had 17 digs and junior libero Savannah Clark added 15 digs.

Hampton was strong throughout the match, and Pazanti said he wasn’t surprised as the Oilers’ passing was better.

“We pass the ball, she’s going to play well,” he said.

Huntington Beach was left to reflect on its best postseason run since 1996, when the Oilers captured the state title. This year’s team was just two wins away from playing for the state crown.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Clark said. “No one expected us to get this far. We were kind of disappointed with this loss, but the fact that we made it here is great in itself. We did have a dream season.”

Added Streips: “Only four teams were left playing in Southern California [in Division I] for state. That’s a really big accomplishment for our school. We made it here.”

Newport Harbor senior middle blocker Katey Thompson finished with a match-high 14 kills, and senior outside Kirby Burnham had 12 kills. For Sailors Coach Dan Glenn, the match was all about minimizing his team’s mistakes.

“[Huntington Beach] was a team that had a lot of momentum coming in, in the sense that I knew they weren’t going to panic,” Glenn said. “They dig a ton of balls and let you make mistakes. Fortunately, tonight we didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Newport Harbor moves on to play at top-seeded Dos Pueblos of Goleta on Tuesday night.

The future looks bright, too, for the Oilers though. Hampton and Turner will graduate but five starters will return as Huntington Beach High teams shift to the always-competitive Sunset League.

“It’s super-exciting for next year,” Streips said, “especially with being in another league. I’m really excited. I think we can go this far again...[we can] prove everyone wrong again.”

She was quickly corrected by Clark.

“Further next year!” Clark said. “We’ll try. That’s our goal.”