By Rebecca Hext
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa boys volleyball team beat out Newport Harbor High School on Tuesday after a slow start in the first game of the match. Costa swept the Sailors in three games on Newport’s home court.
“[Newport Harbor] won the Orange County Championship, so we knew they were a good team,” senior middle blocker Michael Debevec said. “But we came out with good energy and that allowed us to control the games.”
After the first match started off with a lot of back-and-forth play, the Costa boys picked up their game and got back to the dominant style they usually play. Junior outside hitter Riley Mallon stepped up and gathered eight kills during the game and helped bring the final score of the first match to a 25-18 win for Costa.
“We started off a little rough,” Mallon said. “But once we started communicating, we were able to work better as a team.”
Going into the second match, the boys knew that they needed to pull out a win to keep their momentum. With the game tied 11-11, senior middle blocker/opposite Keith Waddell scored a point to gain the lead. With the combination of Waddell’s kill and two critical errors by Newport, Costa was able to finish the match by a score of 25-16.
“We played really well as a team,” senior captain Brooks Varni said. “Our hitters hit very well and carried our team throughout the game.”
After Costa won the second game, coach Mike Ninnis and the boys were confident that the second-string could pull out a win in the third match. While starters such as senior setter Jackson Carr and Varni took a break, second string players such as junior outside hitter Casey White and senior setter Chris Griebenow got a chance to show their skills on the court.
“Our team has lots of depth this year,” senior outside hitter Kevin Inlow said. “I was very excited to see that the second string got to get in there and play.”
The second-string boys kept the intensity up and finished the match with the final win of 25-19, ending the match in a Mira Costa victory. Carr ended the match with 26 assists while Waddell and junior middle blocker Ryan Kaseff had eight kills each.
“Our second-string players are all good and constantly challenge the starters in practice,” junior opposite Grant Chalmers said. “It was nice to see Casey and Chris act as leaders in our last match.”
The boys have a record of 6-1 and plan on improving as their season continues. The boys’ next game will take place on March 29 on the road against West Torrance High School. The Mustangs played Peninsula High at home yesterday but stats and scores were unavailable due to time of publication.
“We played with a lot of fire today,” Carr said. “It looked like the boys were having a lot of fun, and that is the key to our success for our team.”
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