Girls’ Volleyball: Mesa sweeps Estancia
Going into Tuesday, there was a second-place logjam in the Orange Coast League. Three high school girls’ volleyball teams shared second, and two of those involved rivals Costa Mesa and Estancia.
The Mustangs created a little distance between them and the Eagles.
Costa Mesa swept Estancia, 25-21, 25-20, 26-24, to sweep the Battle for the Bell series for the second time since 2014. The Mustangs have only swept the series twice since the inception of the Orange Coast League 10 years ago.
The Mustangs are now in position to finish runner-up in the Orange Coast League for the first time.
Costa Mesa improved to 5-3 in league and stayed in second place with Calvary Chapel, which defeated Godinez in five sets on Tuesday. Two matches in league remain for both programs, and the Mustangs’ are both winnable.
Costa Mesa plays host to Godinez on Thursday and it travels to Saddleback on Monday. In the first half of league, Costa Mesa outlasted the Grizzlies in five sets and it knocked off the Roadrunners in three sets.
Taking second in league is important to Costa Mesa Coach Todd Hanson. If the Mustangs win out, Hanson believes they open the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs at home.
“Two years ago was the first time we had made the playoffs [since 2005], and we drew La Cañada at [its] place,” said Hanson, whose team lost in the first round in three sets.
The Mustangs got out of Estancia in three sets. They rallied in the third set to do so.
After Sarah Graham’s service ace put Estancia at set point, Hanson called a timeout with his team down, 24-21. When play resumed, Costa Mesa’s Felicia Crenshaw and Malia Tufuga teamed up to block a shot.
Estancia Coach Matt Carlin called a timeout right after, hoping his team could extend the contest. Tufuga made sure the match didn’t go past three sets.
The freshman showed a lot of maturity down the stretch. Tufuga produced four straight aces, and the Mustangs closed out third set on a 5-0 run to sweep Estancia.
“Our team had worked so hard the whole game that I just wanted to do this for [my team],” said Tufuga, who finished with seven kills and six aces. “It’s always good to take it to [the Eagles].”
Tufuga does a lot for the Mustangs. She plays setter and opposite.
Tufuga and Makena Seal have shared the setting duties since Hanson said setter Kintak Keju, a two-year starter, was lost for the season because she was academically ineligible before the season. Late in the regular season, the Mustangs have put things together, having won five of their last six league matches.
Courtney Moore led Costa Mesa with 10 kills, while Crenshaw added seven kills and five blocks. Kaylie Hults also played well for the Mustangs, Hanson saying this was her best match of the year.
The Eagles’ road to staying in the hunt for one of the league’s three automatic playoff berths is much more difficult. Estancia, which is 4-4 in league, is at defending league champion Laguna Beach (8-0 in league) on Thursday. The Breakers have never dropped a match in the history of the Orange Coast League. Estancia closes out league at home with Godinez on Monday.
“I feel like we have one of the best teams in the league on paper,” Carlin said. “We’ve got a great physical team. We’ve got some big, tall girls that can hit the ball hard. We’ve got some really good athletes. But mentally we just haven’t been where we need to be to be a CIF team.
“When he had that lead [in Game 3] and Mesa starting chipping away at it, they started thinking about the past [loss at Costa Mesa], and their confidence got a little rattled. You could see that they didn’t want the ball in their hands at crunch time. They were afraid to make a mistake and they were getting hesitant.”
