Girls’ Volleyball: Costa Mesa ousted
The fact that Tuesday was a day off from school was the first red flag for Costa Mesa High girls’ volleyball coach Todd Hanson, whose Mustangs played host to Crean Lutheran of Irvine in a CIF Southern Section Division 5 first-round playoff match Tuesday.
The team always seems out of sync without when it has matches on days off, Hanson said.
The next ominous sign was how sluggish the Mustangs looked in pre-game warmups, he said.
As it turned out, Hanson’s concerns were valid.
The Saints took advantage of numerous unforced errors by Costa Mesa and came away with a three-game sweep by scores of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-17.
“When we play on a day when we don’t have school, it takes them a while to get going, because they didn’t get up early and didn’t go through the routine of school,” Hanson said. “I knew that was going to be an obstacle for us.”
Courtney Moore had five kills and Malia Tufuga had four kills and 10 assists in a losing effort for the Mustangs (12-10), who finished in second place in the Orange Coast League.
Janae Wondergem and Christa Horton had eight and five kills respectively to lead the Saints (13-10) who did an excellent job hitting the ball to empty spots on the Mustangs’ side of the court.
The Saints were also tenacious, diving all over the court to save balls from hitting the floor and winning most of the battles at the net.
“We have a little bit of offense and we are capable offensively but I think our identify this year is scrappy defense and limiting our unforced errors,” Saints’ coach Eric Olson said.
Crean Lutheran led 2-1 in the first game when the Mustangs gave up six consecutive points on unforced errors to fall behind 8-1.
Moore and Felicia Crenshaw had kills intermittently throughout the rest of the game but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Costa Mesa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second game, but once again, were done mostly by their own mistakes.
The Saints took leads of 11-4 and then 20-10 on their way to a second easy victory.
In the third game, Costa Mesa committed fewer mistakes than in the first two games but still couldn’t sustain any kind of a rally.
The Saints led 4-2 early in the game, matching their biggest lead in any of the three games.
“They played consistent ball,” Hanson said of the Saints. “They blocked very well. They got a lot of touches and we were just out of sync.”
Costa Mesa made the playoffs for the second time over the past three years but has yet to get out of the first round.
The Saints will advance to the second round for the first time in three consecutive post season appearances.
“We had to get over that hump this year,” Olson said. “We are blessed. We have a lot of really good girls that really buy in. The chemistry is really good on our team.”