Huntington Beach boys’ volleyball closing in on Sunset League title
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Huntington Beach has been as consistent as it comes in putting up results, its boys’ volleyball team in the midst of a third extended winning streak this season.
The Oilers have produced three streaks of at least seven consecutive victories, and with a four-set win over visiting Corona del Mar on Wednesday night, they extended their latest to a season-best nine matches.
Outside hitter Logan Hutnick had 25 kills, two service aces and two total blocks to lead Huntington Beach to a 25-18, 18-25, 25-15, 25-20 win, as the Oilers completed a sweep of the second-place Sea Kings in Sunset League play.
Hutnick called the rematch with the Sea Kings the “last hurdle” for the Oilers in pursuit of a league championship, which would be the first for the program since 2016, when it shared the Sunset League title with Newport Harbor.
Huntington Beach (24-2, 8-0 in the Sunset League) holds a two-game lead over CdM (13-5, 6-2) with four league matches remaining. The Oilers have dropped just two sets in league so far this season.
“With Huntington, I feel like the standard is show up to practice, you play hard because that’s how you’re going to play in the game,” said libero Aiden Atencio, who had eight digs and six assists. “You’re not going to rise to the occasion unless you can fall back into your training.
“Our coaches are really pushing us, we’re pushing each other. Our best practices are when everyone’s engaged and loud and hitting the floor, and I feel like we take a lot of that into our games, and it helps us win some matches that are close.”
Huntington Beach, which has not lost in a best-of-five-sets match, cemented itself as a top contender over the past week.
After a five-set win over Los Angeles Loyola (22-4) at home on Feb. 26, the Oilers swept the Cubs on the road on March 26. Loyola had handed Huntington Beach one of its two losses in the semifinals of the Best of the West in San Diego.
“It proves to us that we could beat any team at any time,” Hutnick said. “It really just comes down to how we’re playing versus how they’re playing.”
The other loss came to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa (23-1) in the final of the Redondo Invitational, after which setter Kai Gan, Atencio and Hutnick earned all-tournament team honors.
Naturally, the Oilers are champing at the bit to get another chance against Mira Costa, which topped the latest release of the CIF Southern Section power rankings on Tuesday.
Huntington Beach is ranked second, Loyola is third, and Corona del Mar entered the week as the fourth-ranked team in the section.
“[Corona del Mar has] a guy who can side out with anybody with Ben Brown, and they’re young. I think the only senior on the floor for them is [UCLA-bound libero Brogan] Glenn, so they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti said. “All of our pins are underclassmen — both lefts and the right — so it’s definitely a dogfight.
“We’re going up to Santa Barbara, and Mira Costa will be there. The reason we went there was to get another chance to play those guys. It wouldn’t happen unless we’re both in the finals. We’ve got to do our job to get there.”
While the Oilers have youth in the lineup, Pazanti likes how his group stacks up to the competition.
“We lost some pretty key and important elements from last year’s team, but this is the new version,” Pazanti said. “I don’t know that we’re better than last year, but I think that compared to the field, we’re definitely better.”
Ben Arguello had 16 kills for Huntington Beach. Gan, a Harvard commit who previously shared setting duties with Jake Pazanti (Long Beach State), compiled 53 assists and two kills.
“If he went anywhere else, he probably would have been the starting setter by his sophomore year,” Pazanti said of Gan. “He bought into the system that we do here, and he bought into waiting your turn. I think having Jake hit a little bit last year really helped him kind of get his feet wet and be ready to take over this year.”
Colin Choi added eight kills and 18 digs for the Oilers, Nick Ganier had seven kills and two block assists, and Nick Brazao chipped in with two aces as a left-handed serving option off the bench.
Brown had 15 kills and 1½ blocks for Corona del Mar, which plays host to Newport Harbor on Friday in the Battle of the Bay. The Sea Kings swept the Sailors on the road in the first meeting.
Hunter Hanneman provided 13 kills and two blocks. Jack Robinson supplied six block assists, and Brady Gant produced five kills and 2½ blocks. Drake Foley dished out 33 assists, Daniel Booker had seven kills.
Corona del Mar coach Katey Thompson believes the Sea Kings have another level, pointing to a strong effort in a straight-sets victory at Los Alamitos on March 21, when she said they played as a “unified team.”
“From the start, we were decisive and took control as the aggressors,” Thompson said about what the Sea Kings did then and could reapply ahead of the playoffs. “That level of communication and effort is what we’ve been missing. While we’ve had success since that match, we haven’t been able to maintain that same level of play.
“As we move into the second half of league and prepare for CIF, we need to fully commit to the team aspect in addition to sharpening up some skills and cleaning up some areas.”
Edison 3, Newport Harbor 0: Opposite Connor McNally had a team-high 14 kills for the visiting Chargers in a 25-21, 25-22, 25-23 win on Wednesday in a Sunset League match.
Outside hitter Nathan King had seven kills and two block assists for Edison (9-11, 5-3). Shane Nguyen had 19 assists and six digs, and libero Nathan Jackson had 16 digs.
Newport Harbor (16-7, 5-3) had its four-match winning streak snapped.
Sage Hill 3, Laguna Beach 1: Outside hitter Jackson Cryst had 16 kills, six digs and two aces, as the Lightning prevailed 25-17, 25-22, 12-25, 25-13 on Wednesday at home in a Pacific Coast League game.
Ryan Manesh added seven kills for Sage Hill (11-9, 4-6). Connor Gapp also had seven digs and two aces.
Laguna Beach (3-12, 1-9) has dropped six of its last seven contests.
