Isabelle Chiu
Executive Sports Editor
It wasn’t long ago that Mira Costa swimmers were just wishing for one more hour of sleep before morning practice, and boys volleyball was practicing in Fisher Gym. As the school year wanes to a close, spring sports conclude as seniors head on to bigger and better things. In short, La Vista presents the highlights of the spring sports season for teams that participated in the California Interscholastic Federation championships.
The Mustangs girls beach volleyball capped off another excellent season with a win in the first-ever Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League State Championship. They ended 16-0 overall with an impressive 71 game win streak. During the season, they worked the most on serve-receive, which was one of the most fundamental things they could do to score points, senior Maddie Micheletti said.
“The team saved its best performance for state,” coach Eric Fonoimoana said. “This team was the most physical and dominant team I’ve coached in the last five years.”
Read La Vista’s take on Mira Costa’s fall sports
Track ended its season 4-1 overall after competing in the CIF State meet. Despite losing many seniors, juniors and sophomores such as junior Tessa Chan and sophomore Lydia Payne will step up and keep the track program just as competitive, senior Melia Chittenden said.
“I’m really happy as a whole [that the season ended this way],” Chittenden said. “I think track is going to do fine next year because there are still a few juniors and sophomores that are really good.”
Click here to see photos of the spring CIF games
Baseball finished off its season in the CIF quarterfinals, in comparison with last year’s first round loss. Costa ended its season 21-7 overall and finished 6-2 in Bay League. The team came in first in the Redondo Union Tournament and second in the Boras Classic.
“We had a great season,” junior Joey Acosta said. “However it ended a little shorter than we would have liked. Although on a positive note we did great job all year of pitching and playing solid defense.”
Click here: read about Baseball’s CIF quarterfinal game
Although the swim team did not remain undefeated this season with a loss to Redondo, the Mustangs improved in CIF Finals. The boys finished fourteenth, improving on last year’s 26th-place finish, and the girls finished ninth, improving upon their 11th-place finish from last year. Sophomore Alex Crisera was a top swimmer who broke six Costa records in addition to a CIF Division 2 meet record.
“We all worked really hard as a team this year,” junior Andrew White said. “We persevered and managed to place very highly in California.”
Boys volleyball ended its CIF run in a second round loss against Newport Harbor and finished their season 22-10 overall with a first place finish in Bay League. Sophomore outside hitter Thomas Kretschmer said the season this year was a little underwhelming, since the team lost twice in league and lost many other games they should’ve won.
“I can’t wait for next season,” Kretschmer said. “Our team will have a better mindset, we will have more experience, and if we keep improving like we did, I really think we can win CIF.”
Badminton finished 5-1 overall and ended its CIF run with another loss to the six-time consecutive winner, Diamond Bar 13-8. The Mustangs, who had lost to Diamond Bar the last five years, were the closest to winning against Diamond Bar this year, as they were only three games away from victory.
“At the beginning of the season, we never would’ve imagined how far we would come,” junior Audrey Mei said. “But, after putting in a lot of effort to improve, everyone had noticeable improvements which really reflected in our score against Diamond Bar in CIF.”
Although boys golf drove its way to the CIF championship, it could not find its way to the state championship by eight points. Golf finished its season 8-0 in Ocean League and 11-1 overall. Junior Connor Bergin believes that the season itself was a major success and that a lot of the players will continue to improve in the offseason.
“I feel proud,” junior Justin Del Roso said. “It’s great to know that we were undefeated in Ocean League, and it will continually motivate me to become a better player and contribute to this team, especially for next year.”
A CIF loss to University High School cut the boys tennis team’s CIF run short in the quarterfinals again. The Mustangs’ ended their season 17-3 overall with a Bay League title.
“I thought we did better than anyone expected, even during the last match [against University],” sophomore Alex Fry said. “So, overall, I would say it was a success.”
Softball lost in the first round of CIF to Whittier and finished their season 22-8 overall. Costa will be a great contending team for years to come, junior batter Serena Ponciano said.
“I believe our team will always be a contending and with some new players next year, we will be a great team,” Ponciano said.
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