Breakers outlast Mesa

Going into Thursday, history was not on Costa Mesa High’s side. Only once had the Mustangs defeated Laguna Beach in a best-of-five boys’ volleyball match.

That victory came 17 years ago. Back then, Mason Tufuga was a couple of months away from turning 2.

Tufuga is 18 now, and the Stanford-bound opposite gave Costa Mesa its best chance to knock off powerhouse Laguna Beach.

Tufuga’s explosive left arm led to the Mustangs taking the first set, then the fourth to force a decisive fifth set at home.

The Mustangs’ one-man show was not enough, as Laguna Beach won, 23-25, 25-13, 25-18, 17-25, 15-8.

Laguna Beach handed Costa Mesa its first setback of the year and it claimed its 70th straight win in Orange Coast League action.

The Breakers’ 85-1 record in the Orange Coast League is more impressive than their 67-1 record against Costa Mesa.

The only team to beat Laguna Beach in league is Calvary Chapel, in a five-set match on April 22, 2008. The only Costa Mesa team to beat Laguna Beach was the one on May 3, 1999, doing so in a sweep.

If there was a night for the Mustangs (7-1, 1-1 in league) to upset the Breakers again at home, Thursday was it. Laguna Beach, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 poll, played without three key seniors, Ohio State-bound middle blocker Tyler Alter (ankle), setter Isaac Wulff (sick) and opposite Liam Christiansen (sick).

The defending champion Breakers (2-4, 2-0) missed those three, and Tufuga, a 6-foot-6 senior, and company took advantage at the start. The Mustangs scored the first three points, as Tufuga blocked a shot and hammered a kill.

Tufuga, who totaled 36 kills, six blocks and two service aces, got some help early from Simon Daniel, who recorded three kills in the opening set. Daniel is one of two basketball players Tufuga recruited to play volleyball for the first time, and the other is Nabeel Salameh.

While Daniel and Salameh have been playing the sport for only four weeks, they give Costa Mesa size at middle blocker. Daniel is 6-5 and Salameh 6-3. Their length created some issues for the Breakers, who trailed from start to finish.

What contributed to the Mustangs’ success was how they ran their middle blockers, especially Daniel, and that opened it up for Tufuga, who recorded six kills in Game 1.

In sets two and three, Costa Mesa’s passing fell apart and it was unable to get the ball to the middle. The Breakers sent three blockers up on Tufuga, and it slowed down the Mustangs.

“We have a tendency, because Mason is so good, [to] rely on him a little bit too much,” said Costa Mesa Coach Todd Hanson, whose setter, Coby Pham amassed 42 assists. “There down the stretch, [when we were down, 8-5], and we set Mason three straight times, when if we had gone to the middle, they would’ve completely been caught off guard. By the time we went to our outside, our little outside, Steven [Vu], who got a kill off of them, we were already down six points in a fifth set, and you really can’t do anything once you get to that point. We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”

Outside hitter Pete Obradovich played a role to the Mustangs’ demise, finishing with 28 kills, 10 digs, one solo block and four block assists, as did Barry Greenough, a 6-7 middle blocker.

Cole Paxson, a junior committed to USC, moved from his normal spot of libero to setter because of Wulff’s absence. He amassed 52 assists. In Game 5, Paxson went to Obradovich and Greenough and the two combined for four blocks.

Greenough also stuffed Tufuga twice in the final set and Obradovich and Ryan Blaser teamed up to turn Tufuga away once. They made sure to finish off the Mustangs.

The Breakers went the distance with the Mustangs for the second time in a row, last season it took place at Laguna Beach.

“We knew we were in for something,” said Laguna Beach Coach Darren Utterback, adding that the Mustangs, who placed second in league last year and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2009, are much improved. “[Tufuga is] a stud. There’s nothing he can’t really do.”

Beating Laguna Beach in volleyball is Tufuga’s goal. His next chance is on April 21, when the Mustangs travel to Laguna Beach.

“I’m just proud that we can come this close to a team that is so good,” Tufuga said of the Breakers, the defending CIF Southern California Regional Division III champions. “They kill us in terms of years of experience, but I think we came together as a team.”